Journal entry by Loretta Beyer, Jan. 2, 2021:

I always found history to come more alive if it could be illustrated with real-life experiences, so I often tried to do that.

Here are some whimsical, noteworthy thoughts I’ve shared with my students over the years and thought you might enjoy:

Beethoven had a very abusive, alcoholic father who used to box his ears regularly if he quit practicing too soon. He spent the last 20 years of his life completely deaf, but that didn’t stop him from composing, performing, or conducting. He was all about bigger, better and louder, so, in his ninth and last symphony, he added a choir, which was unheard of, and the song they sang was “Ode to Joy!”

J.S. Bach was expected to compose organ and choir music weekly for his church. Without that, we would never have had such a treasure trove of what he left us, including “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” “Sheep May Safely Graze,” and so much more. He also changed the trajectory of music forever by developing tempered tuning, whereby we can now play equally in all 24 keys. He set about composing his two-part, three-part inventions, and preludes and fugues in every single key, to prove his point.

Between his two wives, he had 21 children, each with at least three names, and some who became famous composers in their own right. His second wife, Anna Magdalena, was a lyric soprano with minimal clavichord skills, which was unheard of in Bach’s household. So, one year for her birthday, he compiled a collection of easy pieces for her to practice in her free time between raising all their many children, calling it “The Anna Magdalena Notebook”. It is also rumored that, when one of his lazy students hadn’t practiced, he took his wig off and flung it at the sloppy Sam.

Tchaikovsky suffered so from stage fright that he would often lose his place in his own music.

I always said I had the best job in the world, mentoring young people with music, and have called my studio “my mission field and ministry.” I bought a bumper sticker that reads, “Born to teach music,” and have that proudly displayed in my room. I feel so fortunate to have been able to earn a living doing what I love.

All of my students have had such an amazing impact on my life, too.

Thank you!

One of my little students was so pleased with himself when he told me he had practiced his “traumatic” (chromatic) scales.

White and black keys, major and minor keys, are all essential to create both ecstatic and heart-wrenching music. We need the dissonances in life to appreciate the consonances.

I’m so grateful I have been able to have music in all its shades, be part of my passion and legacy.

Now, my thoughts are turning to some of my favorite songs.

“Walking in the Air,” by Howard Blake, from the animated movie “The Snowman,” is my very favorite piece of all time. It is sung by a boy soprano, and the harmonies just shimmer.

My two favorite classical composers are Chopin, also known as the “Poet of the Piano,” and the Hungarian gentleman Dohnanyi. The former appeals to my incurable romantic side, and the latter satisfies my Hungarian/gypsy genes.

While I respect the Baroque and Classical Era geniuses, most of you know from my recital performances that I love nothing more than a crash-bang, rip-roaring frolic at the keyboard, preferably at top speed and with substantial volume!

I enjoy all kinds of music and am grateful for how much delightful teaching material there is out now, compared to when I was a student. Sacred, jazz, musicals, gaming, and classical. In the last 10 years, new age music by composers such as Yiruma, David Lanz, and George Winston have become favorites of both my students and me.

Many of the Christian praise songs are treasures for me, also. “The Cross Has the Final Word,” by The Newsboys, is brilliant and true.

“Lord of the Dance”, using the traditional tune of “Simple Gifts,” to which Carter added words, is another gem. Those lyrics take us from creation through Good Friday, Easter, and beyond to eternity.

That is my declaration of victory and I want it sung victoriously at my memorial service, because it celebrates the fact that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me and will do the same for me.

I do look forward to dancing in Heaven, because, in Zephaniah 3:17, it says “God dances over us with singing, rejoices over us with love.”

This column is published posthumously with permission from the family. Missionary kid Loretta Beyer grew up in Zimbabwe. After graduating college in the U.S. with a degree in music and psychology, she joined her parents in Alpena, because of terrorist warfare in her African home. Over the last 40 years, she has made Alpena her place of ministry.