     The first time I heard Prelude No. 1 in C Major I was hooked. Of course I didn't know at the time what it was called but I heard a piano player perform this beautiful composition when I was about 8 years old and knew I had to play it. My gracious piano teacher suggested that although I wasn't quite ready to tackle that piece by Johann Sebastian Bach quite yet, there were many others by the composer in simple arrangements I could start with. After that whenever I got a new piano book I would quickly scan the table of contents to find the songs written by Bach and dive into those first. Bach, by any sort of musical measuring stick I apply, is my favourite composer.
         Bach came from a dynasty of musicians and he raised a family of musicians. He was a church composer and performer for much of his life and and also worked in the royal court for a time, but returned to the church (at a much lower salary) where he could express his devotion to God through his music. His abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, but he was not widely regarded as a great composer until his music was rediscovered by other composers the likes of Mozart and Mendelssohn. Bach's influence can be felt today and it has been suggested that those who don't know classical music, know Bach.
         Bach composed for many different instruments and his works are considered genius by many scholars. Bach however believed his talent was only part of the equation. He studied the works of other composers, often walking for many miles to hear the performances of others, gleaning what he could, and working by candlelight late into the night to make copies of adaptations of his contemporaries. "I have worked hard, " he once said, "anyone who works just as hard will go just as far."
         I love listening to his Brandenburg Concertos, Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 and numerous others because his focus on beautiful melodies is unparalleled. However his contribution can't be found only in his repertoire but also in the techniques he applied to that music.
         Prior to Bach, keyboard playing rarely involved the use of the performer's thumbs. Bach's new fingering techniques retained many features of conventional playing of the time, but introduced far greater use of the thumb.
         Anyone who has taken a piano lesson has had a teacher talk of the importance of hand position and correct fingering. It can mean the difference between a competent or completely sloppy version of a piece. So you straighten your posture, double check your finger position, and practice, practice, practice to get the song sounding right. But imagine sitting at the instrument and totally re-envisioning how to create tone by repositioning your hands and incorporating the use of thumbs. So necessary to keyboard players today…so revolutionary in its day.
         New and great ideas don't happen on their own. Individuals like you and I tap into imagination, creativity…perhaps even a spark of genius…and then need to display the courage to make the attempt, and the resolve to keep going regardless of initial success or not.
         As we take a look around the homes we live in, the spaces we work in, or the ways we get from place to place we have to recognize that we are the beneficiaries of the minds of inventors, designers and innovators who had ideas and then took the steps to act on them. But for each item or idea we can see or utilize there is a trail of discarded paper, prototypes and projects that didn't quite make it but continue to be built upon. Some of those ideas may end up on our computers, in our stores, or as options in our homes. Other times those innovations are the ones meant just for use in our own lives; finding the best way to explain the homework to our child, reorganizing our activities to reflect our priorities; or recognizing the strengths we have to complete what is needed in a way unique to us. We may not all invent something the world will embrace, but we can each bring innovation to our lives and communities that can have as profound an impact as incorporating 10 fingers in the playing of fugues in concert halls, or scales in our living room.
          We need to be willing to see beyond the way things are now and imagines ourselves to be the one that can make something happen in a way it never has before. Sometimes the greatest innovations are right in front of our eyes--or at the end of our hands. That's my outlook.
