MINDY PETERSON, NCTM

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

“Where words fail, music speaks.” (Hans Christian Andersen) Music can have profound impact in unexpected places. A little-known story from the life of Beethoven demonstrates the power of presence and how music transcends language in the most meaningful moments. Be inspired to be present and communicate in ways that resonate beyond the limit of words.

I’m Mindy Peterson, host of Enhance Life with Music podcast, where we explore the ways music makes our lives better. And this is Microhance, a micro-dose of musical enhancement.

I love to read. I have always loved to read, but the subjects of my reading have definitely changed throughout the various chapters of my life. As a kid, I voraciously read fiction – Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the Betsy-Tacy books, anything by Beverly Cleary. And I still have these books – they are some of the very few artifacts from childhood that I choose to keep!

As I got older, my reading gravitated more toward topics related to my work, and marriage, and parenting. And now, a lot of my reading is definitely related to the topics of my podcast episodes. But, I do make space to sprinkle in unrelated books that really catch my attention. I’m going to share an example from one of these in a moment. But first, I just want to point out how frequently music finds its way into all of these books, even those that are not about music. Music has been an integral part of the shared human journey since the beginning of time, and I always smile when I see this reflected in scenes that are colored by a musical reference.

The example I’m sharing today is from a book called Just Show Up, by Drew Dyck. This book is not about music. Chapter 2 is titled, “Show Up In Person: Because People Need Your Presence More than Your Words.” In this chapter, the author says:

“A while back, I read a touching story about Ludwig van Beethoven. Because he was deaf, the German composer found social interactions awkward. But when he heard that a friend had lost his son, Beethoven hurried to the man’s house. Once inside, he offered no words of comfort, but there was a piano in the room. Beethoven sat down and for half an hour he poured out his grief through his music – and then he left. The friend later remarked that no other visit had been as meaningful.”

The author continues: “I love that story. But the scary thing is that Beethoven could have stayed home. He had every reason to. He wasn’t good with words. There were other, more eloquent people to comfort the bereaved man. But he showed up and offered what he could. And it was more than enough.”

That musical story really made an impact on me. I’ll put a link to the book in the show notes.

If you’ve experienced a situation where music facilitated being there, or offering one’s presence in a meaningful way, I’d love to hear about it.

You can always connect with me on email (mindy@mpetersonmusic.com), Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

I’m Mindy Peterson, and I hope this inspires you to enhance your life with music.

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