Emulating the Great Composers

My brothers and I visited a priest called Prof. Charles Nyamiti occasionally in the '90s when we were growing up. He had us listen to classical music by great composers like Bach, Handel and Beethoven, experiences that made me appreciate classical music.

When I joined Starehe Boys' Centre where I had my high school and college education, I learnt about the lives of several great composers and the eras they lived in. I also listened to classical music and came to like Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks".

After acquiring a working knowledge of classical music, I heard Prof. Nyamiti, who I sometimes visited when I was in Starehe, say that Bach was the greatest composer that ever lived. If I remember well, that surprised me because I had thought Beethoven was the greatest among the greats.

Now that I have a laptop I use to download classical music, I have sampled several great composers. And you know what? Handel is my favorite! I especially like his "I Know My Redeemer Liveth". It's so beautiful that I play it on my piano keyboard over and over again.

Listening to such beautiful classical music has made me realize the composers were brilliant for them to have come up with the music in an age before electronic devices used for recording and sharing music were invented. Imagine I can't compose a melody and hold it in my head without the aid of a phone.

I once mentioned to Dr. Imbugi Luvai, an organist at All Saints' Cathedral in Nairobi, about how brilliant the great composers were. Agreeing they indeed were, he opined that they would be working for NASA if they were alive today.

Upon reflecting on what I have learnt about the great composers, I have distilled the following traits that made them great: faith in God, passion for music and a thorough knowledge of the Bible. And oh, they did lots of music practice.

Bach, the greatest of them all, was deeply Christian. At the end of all his church compositions, he wrote the initials S.D.G. which stood for Sola Deo Gloria, Latin for "to God alone be glory".

As for the music practice they did, a friend of mine called Douglas Warui once told us of some great composers who practiced a musical instrument (the piano, I think) for several hours at a stretch.

Having distilled the traits that made the great composers great, I will emulate what they did: believing in God, studying the Bible and developing a passion for what I do (blogging) through practice. Not an unwise thing for you to do as well, my beloved reader!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on emulating great composers, you might also enjoy another one on "An Inspiring Correspondence " which I wrote four years ago. Just click that link in blue to dive straight into the story.