The School District of Philadelphia owns one thousand broken instruments. Each one represents a student who cannot make music.
The District, along with Temple Contemporary, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boyer College of Music & Dance, and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage have come up with a fix. First, they mounted each of violated violin, bent bassoon, and cracked cello on a wall at Temple University’s Tyler School of Arts. The display recalls the famous wall at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles where wheelchairs and crutches bore witness to miraculous healings. Patrons can view the display online and “adopt” a particular instrument by donating funds for its repair and upkeep.
Next, the group engaged the services of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, who has undertaken to orchestrate a piece using whatever noise comes out of each instrument in its raw and unrestored condition. Later this year, professional musicians, elementary school students, and local amateurs will perform the piece on stringless violins, saxophones without mouthpieces, snare drums with busted skins, and dented French horns. Patrons can “adopt” a particular instrument and donate funds for its repair and upkeep. Proceeds will go to fix the damaged items and provide kits for future repairs. Lang calls his piece, “Symphony for a Broken Orchestra.”
Perhaps the most surprising thing is that, even in their damaged and derelict state, these instruments can still make beautiful music.
Christians love to quote Matthew 18.19, If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. What we often miss, however, is the context of this promise, the setting in which Our Lord places this glittering gem. The larger passage concerns disharmony within the damaged body: if thy brother shall trespass against thee (v.15). It is worth noting that the word agree translates a Greek verb which gives us our word symphony: literally, “one voice.” Luke uses it to speak of the band whose tunes blare out as far as the distant fields at the prodigal son’s welcome home party. (Lk 15.25) Our Teacher states that the damaged hearts of imperfect believers can offer harmonious praise when disciplined by a single Composer and directed by a single Conductor. The worship of the local church soars on the score of the Symphony for a Broken Orchestra.
But here’s the thing about a symphony: The instruments do not all sound the same note, nor do the musicians vote on which notes to play. Instead, all take their individual direction from the composer and conductor whose wisdom sees how each part contributes to the whole. Submission, not majority rule, empowers a symphony. Even damaged instruments can make a joyful noise when governed by a single heart.
May God give us grace to be the Symphony for a Broken Body. Rather than hide our bent keys and twisted valves, may we boldly display our busted souls as resources for the Master Musician. Rather than discard our damaged souls, may we offer their altered voices to the overall chorus of praise. Rather than fix ‘em up and leave ‘em alone, may we continue to invest in the upkeep of restore hearts that will inevitably find themselves dropped, kicked, and scratched. And may we be humble enough to ask someone to adopt us, knowing the reality of our own dented spirits.
For more information, see https://hyperallergic.com/371857/symphony-for-a-broken
-orchestra-philadelphia/.
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