As we go about our daily round of dishes, laundry, cooking, math, and reading we are usually accompanied by the strains of music coming out of the den. One day it is gypsy music, another day it is Chants of the Holy Sepulcher, another something completely other. We all lift our head and listen for a bit....and then collectively we nod and say, "Ben is creating again". My creative child composes music on the computer at the drop of a hat. It is his decompression mechanism. He has written many musical scores for the plays that I direct.....all I have to do is say, "This is how I want the audience to feel" and he just writes, writes, writes until he is done. It is a little marvel. Ben would never think so. He just says it's in there and needs to come forth. I think it all started when I introduced him to my favorite composer Beethoven. It was one of my favorite memories. We listened to the last movement of Symphony #9 together. By the end we were singing and pounding and "air conducting". From then on, Ben searched for the heroic in all music and began listening to all sorts of things. He then began to compose. It was such a wonderful progression to watch.
And whenever I feel doubts about home schooling, whenever I think maybe it wasn't such a good idea, I hear those strains coming from the den and I realize that it was the BEST idea I ever had. Ben found the heroic, the beautiful, the true during those hours of quietly living the rhythm of our home schooling day. Genius needs time and quiet. Home Schooling gives both. They are precious commodities.
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
- Plato
(Thanks to our friend Katie, we have these great photos of Ben. I think she knows him well.)
Here are a few of my favorites from among his compositions:
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