Lauriane ChappĂŠ
Finding Your Note illustrated by Armella Leung
A Story for your Inner Child and for your Children
"Music has existed since the beginning of human history, but animals, atoms, and stars create music too." Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Š 2015 Copyright LAURIANE CHAPPÉ Translated from French by jmtranslation services
The little boy was not sleeping. The moon, high up in the sky, seemed to smile at him. Lying in bed, he liked to look at the stars outside his window. There was no more sound in the house, except for a few creaks from the floorboards or inside the wardrobe. He was not afraid of the silence, nor of the sounds of the house. Deep in the night, he felt stronger, ready for marvelous adventures. He was no longer the shy and clumsy kid whom the other children laughed at and his parents worried about. He now entrusted his life, his desires, and his hopes to the universe, and a feeling of peace and gentleness filled his heart. This night was unique. He had been on Earth for exactly eight years. Just as he pondered the main events of his brief existence, he noticed notes of music, gaining in number and intensity, until the melody enveloped him whole. The music seemed familiar. Where was it coming from? Intrigued, he got up, opened his bedroom door, walked down the hall in his bare feet, came down the stairs, and opened the front door of the house. The music had enchanted him. He felt the need to follow the notes, as one follows the mouthwatering aroma of a tasty dish coming out of the oven.
He walked into the garden, opened the gate, and kept on. It was in the middle of the clearing that he saw him. He was handsome, his long, thick hair reflecting blue under the moonlight. Sitting in front of his piano, his torso still, he seemed to channel all his energy through his hands, which traveled speedily over the keys, from right to left and left to right. When he saw the child, his hands froze. “I was waiting for you,” he told him. - Do you know what your note is? he continued. - I don’t understand, replied the child. - We all have a note to make heard in the universe, you see. You must find yours. Each of us must find our own, so that, all together, we can play a magnificent symphony. So many people are lost and inaudible, others put out garbled noise, like a badly tuned radio, or they are discordant or off-key… - How can I find my note? the little boy asked. - A note is a vibration, he responded. “Everything in nature vibrates, and everything that resonates shares the same vibration. Go out and find what resonates with you, and through you,” he said, then disappeared. The clearing was now empty and silent. The air was light, impalpable. Prairies, trees, bushes, and flowerbeds revealed themselves in a play of light and dark. On his way back to the house, the little boy thought about what this all meant. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, and decided to go out and find his note as soon as daylight broke. His parents were leaving for two days to go sell their wares in neighboring regions. His departure would not be noticed. At dawn, he filled his backpack with a few provisions and set off on the little road that passed through his village. He opened his ears wide, alert to all the sounds around him.
It was the time when birds start to sing, and he thought he heard them say, “Look here. Look at us. What do you see?� He looked up and saw all the birds perched the electrical wires that stood along the road, looking like the notes on a sheet of music. So it was true. Why had he never noticed? - I want to find my note too, he told them. Can you help me? - In our opinion, humans only make noise, one of them answered. - Listen to Nature, another said. The sounds you hear in nature are full of information. They have meaning for us, and they will have meaning for you, if you let yourself learn. After thanking them, the child continued down the road, listening to the breath of the wind in the branches, the clapping of water on the rocks, the frogs croaking on the banks of the lake, the horses whinnying in the prairie, and the murmuring of insects all around him. Everything had its place, each participant emitted a sound whose tone, rhythm, frequency, and power was their own: sharp, deep, brief, long, repetitive, simple, or complex. Some even seemed to have a preferred time for expressing themselves. All of nature was speaking to him. But he still did not know how he could participate in this melody himself. He stopped in front of a big tree. No sound was coming from it, but somehow, he felt sure that this tree also wanted to communicate with him. He put his arms around the strong trunk and pressed himself against it. He raised his eye to the first branch above his head, and discovered that a beautiful little squirrel had drawn closer noiselessly, and was observing him. - This tree you are hugging is my domain, the squirrel said to him. Watch how I jump from branch to branch. This is a beech tree, and every day it passes its strength on to me.
- Would it agree to give me a little bit too? the child asked, after taking a step back to admire the animal’s acrobatic skills. The squirrel stopped his displays of skill and grew serious. He thought for a moment and replied, “You approached it with respect and gentleness, and it appreciates it. So many people pass by and ignore it, unfortunately. Your consideration and attention allow it to exist fully. In exchange, it wants to grant you the confidence and serenity you are in need of.” The child leaned back against the tree, closed his eyes, and let himself be filled by the energy, power, and wisdom of the old beech tree. When he felt that they had become one, he felt the tree’s force. A current of energy spread through him like sap. He then understood that there were not only sounds in nature, but also flows and vibrations that could neither be seen nor heard, but which offered valuable powers to those who allowed it. He thanked the big tree at length, and continued his journey. As he walked through the forest, a woman with golden hair came towards him. “You seem to know trees and animals,” she said, “but what do you know about stones?” She told him she collected minerals, and had spent much of her life traveling across the five continents, acquiring magnificent stones. - What should I know about stones? the child asked. - There was a time where the mineral, plant, animal, and human realms could understand each other, the woman declared. “Stones and crystals are in direct contact with the cosmos, and connect us to it.”
This was something new for the little boy. He knew stones as the basis for countless games he played with his friends, his favorite being skipping stones across water, which he excelled at. It was difficult for him to think of simple rocks having so many qualities. - Stones can bring harmony and balance to human beings, the woman continued. “I’m going to give you a present. Take this stone, and wear it on your chest. It’s a wonderful stone. It will accompany you until you learn to listen to your heart.” - How do I do that? the child asked. - Everything that echoes in you will make the stone shine bright. The little boy was happy with this gift. He thanked the woman and continued on his way. It was chilly all of a sudden, under the cover of the trees. The sounds of the animals in the forest were replaced by those of drops of water bursting above his head, running down the branches, or falling onto the ground. It was a strong, rhythmic sound, which came and went according to the wind. A sound that chased away all of his thoughts, emptying his head, and cleansing him like it did the leaves and the stones. At the same time, this rain shaped everything around him. Closing his eyes, the child knew he was surrounded by big trees. It was not the same sound that the rain made in his garden, or on the lake, or against the walls of his house or the windows of his room. The rain defined the shape of his world. The little boy started to shiver. He told himself he had to find shelter, since he had not brought a change of clothes and the road ahead was still long. There was a cave nearby.
An old hermit lived there, who was known to be wild but good. So as not to disturb him, the child pressed himself against the entrance of the cave, but the old man soon appeared. - I hear everything that happens in my cave, the old man said. Follow me, and you’ll see why. A few yards from the entrance, he saw a wide open space that branched off into different tunnels. The walls were also pierced through by a few cavities. - Sing! the old man told him. Sing all the notes you know… - Do, Re, Mi, Fa… When he reached “Sol”, it seemed to the child as though the entire cave reverberated the sound of his voice in an amazing echo, resonating from the depths of the stone. The old man joined his voice to the child’s, and they both let themselves be absorbed by the music. They did not notice that the magic stone, from underneath the little boy’s sweater, had started to shine. - You like the Earth’s song, the man said. I know, and that is why I am sharing this moment with you. Certain sounds, you see, come from the beginning of time, well before human language. - But I know many other things you don’t, he continued. I know sounds you cannot hear. The bats who live here find their way in the darkness using only the sounds which they emit, and which bounce off the walls of the cave and come back to them as echoes. Most of them are “ultrasounds”, very high frequencies which your ear cannot hear, but they exist. - I have traveled far, and listened closely to nature. I am certain that you don’t notice the way insects dance, the way plants murmur, like corn stalks do as they grow towards the sky.
- Nature helps man, instructs him, calms him, and regenerates him. But the sounds men make sometimes hurt nature. I, myself, left the city and came here to find silence again. - But it’s late, he concluded, Night will fall soon. You should go home now. - I’m going to visit my brother, who lives at the end of the bay, near the coast, the child replied. It’s not much further, I know a shortcut. They bade each other farewell with a hug. They had shared a precious moment together, and now had a bond. The shortcut passed through a small patch of woods and led to the end of the valley, close to the village where his brother lived. The sun was low on the horizon and its light made the tree trunks around it seem to glow. The little boy thought of the old man’s comforting presence at his side, and their voices uniting in the heart of the cave. Through his sweater, he saw the pendant shine on his chest for the first time. He was approaching the estuary and was excited to see his brother, who was twelve years older than he was. His brother loved the sea, and had chosen a career that allowed him to live off his passion. As a diver and a skipper, he spent half his time on the water, on his sailboat, and half his time underwater, observing the sea beds. The little boy hoped to hear about dolphins, and their laughing songs. In the meantime, he enjoyed the last rays of daylight. He felt a great warmth come over him, a mix of energy and serenity. His magic stone still shone. He was no longer worried about finding his note, but now knew what really lies within himself. He had learned to recognize this feeling of joy, the profound energy in his heart that
drove him towards others: humans, animals, trees… He had received a lot in a single day, but he understood that the world also needed his power of joyous love. That was the sound he needed to make heard. This joy that sprang from him like notes from a musical instrument. He could spread it around himself, leave traces of it in the ground, and on whatever he touched… Since he was starting to get weary, he was relieved to see the lights of the house where his brother lived. Upon opening the door, his brother’s face lit up, and he invited him inside, where he warmed him up, served him a good meal, and they both talked late into the night. The little boy told his brother about his encounters and everything he had experienced. The brother recounted his ocean travels, and told him about marine animals. Dolphins often followed his boat, and he explained that dolphins, like bats, emit ultrasonic frequencies. He even knew the story of a little girl, who had become deaf, and thought she was cured thanks to a dolphin. She lived near the beach and went swimming every morning. A young dolphin almost always came to meet her. One day, upon coming out of the water, she noticed that she could hear again. The older brother also spoke about whales he once saw in the distance. Although we often talk about “whale songs”, they actually emit sound waves that are sometimes so low in frequency, known as infrasounds, that we cannot hear them. This allows them to communicate over very long distances of many hundred miles, but much less so these days than in the past, because of boats whose motors “scramble” their communication, and sometimes perturb them so much that they crash onto the beach. The little boy’s face darkened. Even underwater, human noises could harm animals. He promised himself then that when he grew
up, he would work to protect nature. This thought restored his confidence, and that night, he dreamed of fabulous landscapes populated with magical beings. The next day, morning was already well under way when the two brothers woke up. - It is too late for you to go home on foot, the older brother said, and my car is not working so I can’t drive you home. But don’t worry, I’ve asked my neighbor, a musician, to give you a ride home. He says he knows you and he would be very happy to do so.” Ten minutes later, a car stopped in front of the door. The little boy climbed into the front seat, and recognized the man whose hair reflected blue light, and who played the piano so well. The man seemed happy to see him and smiled, a spark of amusement in his eyes. I came to visit you in a dream, as you remember. And I know that you heard my melody. Have you found your note? - I think you can let several notes be heard along the course of your life, the child answered. I also know that there exists a multitude of sounds all around us, some of which we notice more than others, as well as waves and vibrations. I understand that nature’s music is as harmonious as the music you play on the piano, and it is beneficial to us. I’ve discovered that I can also participate in this symphony, and I want my contribution to be beautiful. The man looked at the child with admiration. He saw the pendant that shone bright in the center of his chest. He recognized the stone, which reminded him of a woman with whom he had traveled the world, and whom he loved. He knew that just like him, she had recognized this child’s great gift, and could tell that an exceptional destiny awaited him…
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