Piano By Starlight

The curtains were drawn back. The instrumentalists were ready in the shadows of the stage as the lights were dimmed for the introduction. Like the dark sky of night dotted with starlights and moonbeams, he thought.

There, standing in the wings, was the young composer ready to step out onto the waxed wooden floors of the Luce Auditorium to present his song. His singer stood beside him, crossed himself, and said something that was lost in the applause and the loud banging of his own heartbeat.

"This is it." he said to himself "Just like playing the piano in the house."

With that thought, he stepped out into the light and strode over to the grand piano, majestic and beautiful on the left side of the stage. He took his seat, took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He started out young playing the piano, but never really that serious about playing someone else's songs. He wanted to make his own -- this performance would be a culmination of his belief in himself, a belief that everybody has a song to sing and music to share.

Applause came after lights were dimmed and the spotlights came on. In a split second, he saw everything that happened in the past 3 months -- submitting his raw entry of just a few piano notes tinkered over at home and a bunch of forlorn lyrics strung together to make a melody, to getting picked to rework it with an arranger, and deciding to stick with that same raw song and add a bit of strings in the choruses, to deciding to play it himself -- he smiled, cleared his mind, and with his hands gently on the ebony and ivory of the grand piano, started to stroke the notes of his song.

He became slightly aware of applause after the last notes of the intro faded out into words and vocals, and smiled, and thought, it was beautiful -- oh how the notes just flowed from the piano hammers striking the strings, and how the words just went well with mood and persevering message of the song.

The strings came in as the music built up to the chorus and to the bridge, with smatterings of applause in between. He closed his eyes and let his hands dance over the keys, gliding, caressing every note. He thought, "How perfect is this?" Knowing full well the answer to his question, he opened his eyes and risked a glance at the audience, taking in every smile and every teary eye.

He became slightly aware that the song was coming to its end. The strings were fading out, their haunting echoes resonating their last notes in the auditorium, and once again the piano was alone, in the spotlight.

He played the final notes, oblivious to the the dark sky slowly giving way to appreciating faces and applauding hands, and the starlight that shone on his piano dimming to give way to the house lights.

He couldn't help but close his eyes once more, not in awe of the beauty of the music that he was able to make, but in honor and gratitude to the One who made it possible. "Thank you Lord, it was perfect."

He said his little prayer of thanks, opened his eyes, stood up and took his bows and smiled.

Applause.