My daughter, Amelia Landes Taylor wins major art scholarship competition!
See her stuff at the Art Renewal Center website. This is a worldwide scholarship and very competitive. She is among the youngest of the winners also. Congratulations, Amelia.
You guys thought I was kidding when I said all my kids are outstanding, huh? Sorry. Please excuse the brag. I just had to.
Parents are always looking for fun things to do with their children, and if it could educate or acculturate them at the same time, so much the better. If youngsters have a great time at the symphony, the chances increase that they will value classical music. So what are some ways that the symphony could create a “kids night out”?
- Perform in an outdoor venue where families can spread out a blanket under the stars. Shoot fireworks afterward.
- Have the musicians stroll through the audience before the performance and let the children touch the instrument and see it played up close. (So, you don’t want grimy hands on your Strad? Take a beater fiddle for the hands-on demo, right?)
- Have the instrumentalists stroll through the audience while the performance occurs.
- Have drawings for prizes, throw candy into the audience, have kids ask the musicians for tunes from the audience at intermission.
- Have children audition to perform as the “warm-up” act and “intermission” act.
- Perform some music the children know from movies.
- Have a Halloween concert where everyone dresses in costume (even the musicians). Have a costume parade with the symphony playing in the background. Award prizes for great outfits. Play some spooky music. For one piece, turn out all the lights and have the orchestra play in only a black lit stage–eerie and glowing.
- Develop a routine where two musicians get into a fight and they get into a slow-motion fight with strobe-lights and pretend to break their instruments, etc. All the while the symphony plays on.
- Show some old keystone cops movies or silent Charlie Chaplin and have the symphony play as background music.
- Have a few dance soloists perform in front of the symphony in interesting costumes.
- A Mime could also develop a routine to some music.
- Play games with music in the background like “pass the balls until the music stops”. Everyone with a ball when the music stops gets a little candy. Repeat ad nauseum.
- Other activities could include: calling volunteers from the audience to play “Name that Tune” for small prizes,
- Have a professional story teller tell a story with the symphony performing illustrative snippets in the background.
- Have the symphony play something like “Peter and the Wolf” and have the audience participate with sounds for each animal and Peter. Or some other piece that has a definite story to it.
- Ask an older child volunteer to come and direct the symphony in any fashion he wants: Loud or Soft, Fast or Slow, Play or rest. The piece should be something that everyone knows.
- Develop a slapstick routine that one of the musicians or conductor can perform during a serious piece. The musician could arrive late, tune-up during a rest, blow his nose, trip and fall, lose his music and try to play off someone else’s music, begin singing like a drunk sailor, he turns around and the back of his tux etc. Remember the PDQ Bach act? (Peter Schickle) Children would love it.
- Encourage the children to clap in time during a particularly rhythmic piece.
- Have an applause-ometer that the audience tries to break by clapping and yelling loudly.
- Have someone dress-up as a composer from the past and answer questions from the audience about their lives and their work. Then play one of their pieces.
- Have coordinated themes of music and include multimedia presentations that correlate:
- Space–the Final Frontier:
- Get a Planetarium to create a show using “The Planets” by Gustav Holst
- Themes and visuals from Star Wars, Star Trek, Close Encounters, 2001 a Space Odessy, other Movies
- Have a couple of telescopes set up so kids can see Venus or the Moon up close
- Show Carl Sagan’s animated video of our place in the universe with music in the background.
- Give prize for best “alien” costume.
- Everybody that attends gets a free glow-in the dark star to stick on themselves.
- Wild West
- Play “The Cowboys”, Rodeo, The Magnificent Seven, Billy the Kid, “Rawhide”, “Lone Ranger”, High Chaparral, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Have Some fiddlers come and play
- Visuals of Rodeos and Ranch life
- Stage a fake gunfight
- Have a cowboy come in a do some roping tricks with his lariat
- Give a prize for best cowboy costume
- Have a cowboy or cowgirl ride their horses to the front of the stage and have the horses perform some simple tricks or a routine where the horse seems to be answering questions.
- Patriotic
- Fairy Tales
- Music from Around the World
- Dinosaurs: Could you have this take place in a Dino Museum??
- Carnival of Animals
- Walt Disney Movies
- Wonders of Nature: This would need IMAX type visuals
Here’s an interesting site with the top 100 classical pieces based on current pop culture.These are just a few fun ideas that would really make the symphony an entertaining place for families–especially if they could be comfortable having snacks, wiggling and playing games.
- Space–the Final Frontier:
As I’ve said in another post, Classical Music needs a great PR campaign if it is to stand a chance of survival. It seems to me that the entire industry is pretty fatalistic about the future–cynical and resigned about things like market share, concert attendance, etc. News stories of the a world renowned violinist playing in a New York Subway on a Stradivarius– and being almost totally ignored, only confirms the almost Apocalyptic view of the major players.
So, what to do? Do we “go softly into that good night”?
No, but if Classical Music is going to be revived in the public consciousness, somebody better bring out a giant defibrillator soon.
Here’s some suggestions:
- Organize into a national consortium to pool resources and execute unified goals
- Consider using other successful models as a template: American Idol and/or professional sports come to mind
- American Idol is obvious and has been used to some extent in the classical venue. But the idea of giving a huge prize and having a national search for talent is compelling.
- Professional Sports is more obtuse, but still a possibility. Could competition play a role in local symphonies on a number of different levels? Auditions can be promoted like draft picks, the composition of the orchestra could be debated and fantasized about, a “world series” could be staged, and an all-star orchestra could give special concerts. (The musicians union would have to be agreeable. That is a whole ‘nother post!) Promotion strategies could be aimed at creating a fan-base that identifies the “hometown” symphony as clearly as the hometown baseball team. The chance of success would rest on finding the nugget of suspenseful conflict and staging it like a contest. Everyone is drawn to a good fight, right?
- Grow the fans from the ground up. If a person grows up with something, they usually identify with it later in adult life.
- At Birth: Give a free CD or I-tunes album to every family with a newborn. Promote the benefits of classical music for infant development and serenity.
- Teach day-care centers about using classical music in the children’s daily routine and supply with a CD or Itune account.
- Coordinate with producers of entertainment media to supply classical music at a really reasonable cost–just to get our foot back in the door. These could include: Video games, cartoons, education materials, toy manufacturers for embedding, and of course, movies aimed at children.
- Use existing research linking children’s intellect and social skills with learning to play a musical instrument to get music back into the primary schools. Without music by second grade, the upper levels will never perform exceptionally. Get instruments donated and high school or college musicians to help teach groups of children Suzuki method.
- Sponsor research on children’s behavior which shows that children behave better with classical music in the background. Use these findings to push for classical music to be piped into schools (hallways and classrooms) and buses. Start with the primary grades and inch upward into middle school and finally high schools.
- Create and sponsor school competitions for classical music knowledge which would combine “Name that Tune”, “Jeopardy”, and actual student performances. (Students perform any of a set repertoire of pieces under pressure.) The music teams go to meets and competitions just like gymnasts or debaters.
- Help to sponsor scholarship competitions (Similar to pageants) for both young men and young women based on classical music performances, service, knowledge, and background. Have statewide competitions feed into a national competition. Then a worldwide competition.
- Encourage professional classical musicians to create interesting programs they can take into schools. Use humor! See Ingudsman and Joo.
- Create a curriculum for high schools that shows how classical music can be a promoter of cutting edge causes:
- Symphony No. 1 by Daniel Bukvich (In Memoriam Dresden 1945) (I wish this were a better performance. I went to one at a college that both terrified me and brought me to tears–all in a matter of five memorable minutes)
- The Cellist from Sarajevo Vedran Smailovic
-
He courageously played during sniper shooting to honor the fallen
- Encourage TV shows and movies about classical musicians of the past and present. Also inspiring stories of people who go into the ghetto or third world to teach children to play classically.
- Have dance classes in school (social and individual) that use classical music for at least some of their music to perform with.
- Make classical music concerts much more fun and interactive. Create symphony events for parents and children that are really entertaining. Really. See my post on this subject.
- Stop trying to shove the avant garde stuff down the throats of the civilian population. Keep it in the ivory towers where it belongs. (Oh, except the Bombing of Dresden Symphony. . .I guess there are exceptions. Sigh)
- Associate classical music with romance in the public mind. Romance is a powerful motivator for teens and adults. So many people are tiring of blatant sex and want some romance instead. OK, so many WOMEN are tired of blatant sex and want some romance instead. But that’s half the population.
- Associate classical music with fantasy. Ditto for drama. You could have so many cool concert ideas!!! That will be another post. . .
- I think I would seriously consider always having a big screen visual behind any concert performance. People now require interesting visuals at all times or they start texting.
- Play up the Hollywood connection with classical music and the movies. That is the one remaining lifeline to current popular culture that classical music maintains. Grow it and exploit it.
- Stop being so territorial about visual recordings of professional symphonies. You guys are shooting yourselves in the foot by not sharing your image and music to generate interest worldwide.
- Create a new model of funding for the arts that is not based on wealthy donors. When your fan base is expanded by appealing to youngsters, classical music will be much more self-sustaining.
- Write and perform more classical music for kids. “A child’s guide to the Symphony” and “Peter and the Wolf” just don’t cut it. It would be interesting to perform pieces that used to be played with the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons and show the cartoons on a big screen.
- Why did Disney cut the Disney Youth Orchestra summer program? That was super cool.
- Develop summer music camps in empty schools or churches. These could be tons of fun and profitable.
- Charter schools/magnet schools emphasizing performing arts or classical music. (I know there are a few of these already)
In our family, there are certain words and phrases that you will seldom if ever hear.
“I can’t!”
“I’m trying!”
“It’s not fair!”
“I’m never going to be able to do it!”
“This is too hard!”
“I hate this!”
“This is stupid, why do I have to do it?”
“I have to do it.” (Ok, we hear that one more than I would like)
These are all examples of negative programming or negative self-talk, but they are so endemic in our culture, that we don’t notice the destructive effects that they create. We just accept the collateral damage as if it is not just inevitable, but indeed, a normal part of life. It isn’t.
As a student of psychology I was fascinated by how powerful the human brain is. For instance, did you know that the fact of skin allergies is suggestible by the brain? (You thought they were inherited! OK, the tendency probably is. . .) It is a documented fact that people with multiple personalities will react biologically to substances on their skin depending on what personality they are in at the time. If personality A is allergic to cats–the patient’s skin will break out if she holds a cat while in personality A. But if personality B is NOT allergic to cats, the patient will not react adversely to cats. How’s that for suggestibility?
How we program our brains is probably one of the most important things that we do. How we teach our children to program their minds is probably a close second.
With my art students, a very common strategy they use to deal with angst, is to indulge in negative self talk. Some of the following are very common sentiments: “I can’t draw (fill in the blank–faces, hands, horses, bananas)!” “This is stupid!” “This is hard!” “I’m trying!” “I’ll never figure it out!” “I can’t do it!”
I know a family with really outstanding kids whose mother says something like this when she hears any negative self-talk: “Don’t say that or your brain will believe it. Can you think of a positive way to express the same idea?”
This idea of programming our minds, rather than passively being victim to the whims of emotions or actions of others is a very liberating concept. One way we program our minds is to choose our words carefully, as it affects our mindset greatly.
Instead of : “I can’t!” replace it with “I’m just learning” or “I’m going to succeed if I don’t quit.”
Instead of: “I hate this!” replace it with ” I’m frustrated, but that’s temporary.”
Instead of: “I have to do that” replace it with “I choose to do that” or “I get to do that”.
Instead of: “Work hard on that” replace it with “Play around with it” or “Do what it takes” or “Fix that”
Instead of : “That’s super hard” replace it with “That’s an awesome challenge” or “If it doesn’t kill me, it makes me stronger!” “It’s easy if you do it a little at a time”.
Instead of: “It’s not fair!” replace it with “Nobody said life is fair. Life is an opportunity.”
Instead of: “I’m trying!” replace it with “I’m in the middle of doing it”.
Instead of: “I’m dead” replace it with “I need a recharge of my batteries”.
Instead of: “That’s just the way I am” replace it with “My character can become whatever I want”.
Do you get it? There is always a positive, more inspiring way to express whatever feeling/sentiment that you may have. These positive options will make all the difference between success and failure. A dream may be a wish your heart makes, but succeeding is a function of the thoughts your mind makes.
Listen carefully to the speech patterns and thoughts conveyed by friends and family You might find that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to setting up obstacles to our own success! You will find that the most successful humans (Not necessarily financially–I mean success as a human being) are those who have programmed their minds positively.
A small passage in Proverbs 23:7 has a tantalizing phrase: “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What, you say? What is so great about that?
Sometimes, amazing truths are hidden in unobtrusive places. That way the little gems remain hidden except to those who are truly searching.
Here is the little treasure: Your thoughts determine your destiny.
Not in some magical, “the universe will come to you” sort of way. But in a very predictable, testable way.
Sow a thought, reap an action,
Sow an action, reap a habit,
Sow a habit, reap a character,
Sow a character, reap eternal destiny.
It all begins with the thoughts we create, entertain, and act upon.
First off, where do thoughts come from? The author Steven Covey pointed out that since we can think about our thoughts, we are not our thoughts. Therefore, we can wield our thoughts like raw material and not be the victims of our thoughts. This is a huge breakthrough in most people’s thinking.
We need not be passive victims of our thoughts. Virtually every action and emotion is preceded by a thought. (One exception to that might be a reflex).
Did I say emotions? Feelings are preceded by thoughts? Yes. Absolutely.
Here is an example to show how thoughts precede the emotion:
You are making dinner for the family and have been working all afternoon. Your husband returns from his job late and flops down without a word on the sofa.
You think, “That lazy jerk! Doesn’t he see that I need some help with the house and kids? He thinks he can just waltz in here after his job and relax, while I have to start my second job as cook and cleaner!” Your blood starts to boil. You start slamming dishes and cupboards so that he can see you are upset.
Still he stays on the couch. Almost inert.
“That’s it,” you think. “He doesn’t even care about how I feel, what I’ve gone through today.” Now you are not only mad, you are hurt because you take his actions personally. So you yell.
“Jason! Why are you just lying there like a worthless slug! Don’t you care that I’ve been slaving away all day too?”
Still, he doesn’t respond.
“He’s ignoring me,” you think. “He must still be mad that I overdrew the checking account yesterday. ” You fume even more. ” He is really a hypocritical SOB! After all, he just spent a hundred bucks on lottery tickets that went down the toilet. “
“Jason, you **##%%%, get up off that sofa!”
He still just lays there.
You take a big wooden spoon and march over to him.
“JASON!!!”
He’s not ignoring you. He’s not sleeping. He’s in a diabetic coma.
You thing, “Omigosh, he’s sick! He’s close to death!” Your emotions change instantly from rage to compassion. Why? Did the body on the couch do anything different? No. The only thing that changed was your thoughts. That’s it.
Now, that’s a pretty dramatic example of thoughts changing in an instant from one extreme to the other, but the principle is true. If we want to create emotions of love, joy, happiness, generosity, confidence, bravery and faith, we can do this by choosing our thoughts as carefully as we choose our words. Maybe even more carefully.
Think about it for awhile. Every negative emotion of fear, anger, greed, envy, cruelty, hate, selfishness and unbelief can be prevented or eliminated almost instantly by replacing the thoughts that generated the negative feelings, with thoughts that engender positive emotions. How to do that??
I’ll write in a later post.
So, I know that Provo Utah is not exactly a hotbed of radicalism, but even taking my little girl trick-or-treating at the mall was a little too “eye opening” for my comfort. Call me old-fashioned, but when did Halloween change from an outing for the kiddies to a carnival of exhibitionism for adults? Sometime in the 1980’s I think. So, we went instead to our church parking lot where two congregations get together and do a “Trunk-or-Treat” instead. All the cars line-up in the parking lot, some people go all out and decorate vans and horse trailers like haunted houses, and the adults chat and the kids get their loot within 1000 feet. Great on all counts. Here is a picture of my little “Snow White”.
We also hosted a murder mystery dinner for the three oldest and their dates (in one case it was a husband). They just kept bursting out with laughter for about 3 hours. My husband was the amazing chef! Everything was a hit except the fruit that didn’t thaw. The Chocolate Flourless torte with raspberries is always great as is the Pasta Milano with sun-dried tomatoes and portabella mushrooms. Ummm.
Of course, it has fabulous music based on a Ralph Vaughan Williams arrangement. This hymn has long been one of our family’s favorites and this video is inspiring and humbling at the same time. I hope you are as moved as I was.
Here is the video of “If You Could Hie to Kolob” sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Just a note: “Hie” is an archaic word meaning “to hasten toward”. “Kolob” is a scriptural term for the planet near where the throne of God resides. See this reference. 
If You Could Hie to Kolob– William W. Phelps
1. If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity,
Find out the generation Where Gods began to be?
2. Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end?
Me thinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.” (I personally favor the word “outer” instead of “outside”)
3. The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter; There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.
4. There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light.
There is no end to union; There is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.
5. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.
There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.
I can’t believe it! Two years ago, I had trouble walking because of a condition called “hip displasia”. So, while I was pretty much incapacitated and in pain, my husband suggested I start writing the novel I had always threatened. Now, after getting a “hip resurfacing” (high tech hip replacement), I am walking great and now have my first draft done. Two back to back miracles.
My goal is to polish it enough to get an agent after the next writer’s conference I am attending in Mt. Hermon California this spring. Last year, every agent I spoke with seemed to like my premise. So, that is hopeful.
And, don’t worry, the title is only a working one. Editors usually have ideas of their own, right?
So. . . what is the story about? Thought you’d never ask! It is a fantastorical novel which means that it is set in an historical era, but it has at least one fantasy element included. So many of events of the premise are actually true. . .
At the execution of the last grand master of the Templars in medieval France, the doomed knight curses the King and the Pope for exterminating the entire order. The prophecy comes true, and King Philippe IV and Pope Clement V both die unexpectedly within a few
The castle that the Capetian Dynasty inhabited
months, unable to find the hidden treasure that the Templars brought from the crusades. Further, the three hundred year old French dynasty suffers a series of unbelievable disasters which brings it to the brink of extinction within just a few years. The last Capetian dynasty king has one son, Jordan (my name for him)–but there’s a problem. Prince Jordan’s mother (the Queen)was imprisoned for adultery which throws Jordan’s legitimacy into question–especially by all the nobles who want an excuse to seize the throne.
Now for the fiction part—
Jordan is highly educated and skilled in swordsmanship and archery. But at age seventeen, he discovers that he has leprosy (very common in Europe at this time). Not only will this eventually take his life, it will take any hope of assuming the throne, or ever finding a true love. He must keep his affliction hidden even while it slowly debilitates him. Jordan stumbles on the start of a treasure map which promises to lead to the hidden Templar treasure. He decides that finding the treasure would legitimize his claim to the throne. But the treasure turns out to be much more important than gold. . .
Jordan’s father, King Charles, is desperate for a way to maintain power. When he and his son sight a unicorn in the kingdom, they decide to try to capture it and use its legendary powers to defeat their enemies. Jordan hopes he can be healed by the mysterious alicorn. In a horrible turn of events, (spoiler alert!!!) the plan goes awry and Charles instead dies at Jordan’s hand.
Jordan flees in exile, deciding to give up on everything he ever hoped for. But in the forest, he comes across an unusual young woman, Celine, with two small children. Who is she and what do these children have to do with the future of Jordan’s throne? They are forced to cooperate to save a unicorn who is wounded, and in the process, Jordan sees how he might use the creature to regain his throne.
But Celine’s real identity is discovered by Jordan’s cousin who has usurped the throne and he is determined not only to kill her and her children, but to destroy the Templar treasure which has fallen into his hands.
Can Jordan and the unicorn save Celine, the treasure and his throne? And why would the medieval church want the Templar treasure burned, rather than revealed?
These questions are all answered in this story. There is romance for all you romantics, intrigue for all of you mysteryphiles, and adventure for all of you armchair swordsman. I’ve posted some excerpts on “My novel, Apocryphon” page. Check it out and tell me what you think!
“Get in there and do your practicing!!!” Your eyes widen, your finger points, your brow furrows. Your heart breaks. What happened to all the high hopes of happy little musicians walking around your house?
It’s okay. Everyone has a day that they wish they could redo. Or even a week, month, year or decade. But we would like to keep it down to one day. Here are some fixes:
- Reinforce the linkage to pleasure. Have you been getting a little lazy as a parent and just hoped your child would practice on auto pilot? Fuggedaboutit. You may need to rethink your priorities and spend some effort making things interesting for your child. This is usually the problem. See my post 10 Creative Ways to Reinforce Creative Practicing.
- Back off the pressure. Do you have a demanding teacher, but a child who is really laid back? This could be a mismatch. For a really funny video see this one at youtube. Or are you as a parent too strict or high achieving? You may need to give everyone involved a breather.
- Never use practicing as a punishment.
- Never practice with your child if you are angry. Take a break.
- Change instruments. As a last resort, this is a possibility. Do you have a tone-deaf child on violin? Not a good idea. Put her on the piano. Do you have the wrong sized instrument for your child? Especially with stringed instruments, make sure you don’t have a small child on a full-sized instrument. Standard sizes go down to a 1/32 size instrument. If your teacher is worth her salt, she will pick up on this discrepancy. Don’t get cheap and expect a 4 year old to manage with a full-size instrument.
- Provide opportunities to perform. If your teacher isn’t making opportunities to show their stuff, you may need to get creative. Host a neighborhood talent night for the kids and have all the parents bring treats. This doesn’t just have to be instruments–it can be comedy, singing, dance, etc. Does your school have a talent show? If not, organize one. It’s not very hard. Award prizes for each entry–even if it is just a candy bar–kids will love it. If your child sounds very good, consider wedding receptions, casual restaurants, and as a warm-up act for community theatre performances or local symphonies. Maybe in front of busy grocery stores or the mall with a “tips” jar. (Ask permission if it is private property)
- Change style emphasis. Have you done Bach for 5 years? Try something different–fiddling, rock, jazz, ragtime–there are tons of different styles that many instruments can do. It can really refresh your student.
- Play around with ensembles. Piano duets are fun for family members or even school chums. String ensembles are great if your child is at least in their third or fourth year of lessons. Again, find venues to perform in.
- Watch other great performers. Youtube is a great resource again. You and your child can find kid performers on any instrument. Most are very good and inspiring. Here is a great 14 year old violinst on youtube. The key is to almost never show your child another performer who is YOUNGER than she is and also better. Always choose examples who are older than your child. Then she has something to aspire to. Showing adult music stars is always appropriate. See Gil Shahan in this recording. Amazing!
- Make sure that boys have a male role model. If a boy thinks that only girls play music, he will ditch it because he will want to identify with a manly man. Find a teacher or friend or if nothing else, a number of video idols who are men. This helps a great deal. When he is about 13 and wants to quit, tell him that he will be surrounded by cute girls in orchestra all through high school. If your son is sports minded, just let him know that if he wants to go out for football, he has to be doing well in music lessons.
- Make sure your child is as proficient as most others. You have until about seventh grade to accomplish this. By age 12, if a child looks around and everyone else seems to be alot better than he is, you will have a rebellion on your hands. This is another reason not to wait too long to start lessons. On the other hand, if your child experiences some satisfaction at being able to “wow” other kids, that will be very encouraging.
- Occasionally trade chores for practicing. You can say,”Well Justin, I’ll let you off the dinner dishes if you will go and do your practicing instead.” Suddenly practicing is very attractive.
So, there it is. One mother of many successful musicians was asked, “How did you get your children to practice? Did you reward them? Bribe them? Threaten them? Punish them?” She smiled and answered. “I did everything. But in the appropriate amounts.”
Are you tempted to class all depiction of nudity in art as pornographic? I dearly hope there are very few of you. But of you are one of the few, the proud, I invite you to consider the alternatives to that line of thought.
I have a firm conviction that God created man after His own image and likeness. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1: 27) So that means that the very construction of our bodies is of a divine pattern. After Adam and Eve were created, ” . . . God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
To me this indicates that the human form was the handiwork of God and was pronounced ‘very good’.
We know that while in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve “were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Gen. 2:25) Only after the Fall, did our first parents feel the need to “sew fig leaves into an apron.”
So does this mean that we should shed our clothing because the human body is the work of God? No. But neither should we look upon our “tabernacles of clay” as shameful, disgusting or evil any more that we look at the mountains, sunsets or wild animals as evil. God didn’t create anything that is inherently evil.
Paul said “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” He preaches the doctrine that our bodies are “members of Christ” and that we should glorify God with our bodies. (1 Cor. 6) Even Jesus Christ Himself regarded his body as a temple. (John 2:21)
Satan, on the other hand, wants to thwart and destroy the plan of our Heavenly Father. He would like to twist the God given gifts we possess for purposes contrary to the original intent of our Maker. One of the most important ways that the Adversary attempts to do this, is to call “evil good, and good evil; . . . put darkness for light, and light for darkness; . . . bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”. (Isa. 5:20)
If the human body can been seen as anything other than it truly is, namely a very good creation of the Father which is a gift to be stewarded wisely, then the Devil has won a victory of falsehood. It doesn’t matter what other falsehood is substituted for the truth. It is as counterproductive to worship the body as to abuse it; to display it pridefully as to hide it in disgust; to overstimulate it as to neglect it.
So how does this all apply to the classical nude in art?
Of course, the Jews would have seen any graven or painted image of animals or people as a sin against the commandments. The Jewish people never became really great artists because they were prohibited from depicting anything but geometric figures or stylized plants. (The reasoning behind this rule may have been that the Children of Israel fell into idolatry so easily that the leaders figured that the best way to curb the worship of graven images was to censor the production of the images themselves.)
Evidently, in Jesus’ day a group of hyper vigilant rabbis were called the “Bruised and bleeding rabbis”. Why? They were so concerned never to become tempted by lust, that whenever a woman was within their field of vision, they would shut their eyes. And run into things. And become bruised. And bleed. But they could comfort themselves that they never gave in to the temptation of lust.
In the same vein today, if we are so easily drawn into lasciviousness, then perhaps we to would do well to censor all our images to those of geometric figures and stylized plants. It is certainly a “safe” position if you are trying to eliminate sources of erotic stimulation.
For the identical reasons, the ancient Jewish physicians were not permitted to see or touch an unclothed female patient. And again, yes, that position appears to be a “safe” one from the stance of the corruption of morals. But without taking the risk of possible temptation, many thousands of people suffered needlessly because scientific knowledge could not expand under such restrictions.
What is the answer to that age old dilemma?
Joseph Smith Jr. answered an inquiry about how he directed the affairs of the Mormons. He said, “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” If we teach correct principles about the human body, we can let the people govern themselves. Yes, there is a risk of sinning, but there is also a chance for marvelous progress. (Say, doesn’t that sound familiar?) It is a matter of judgment, but I feel the rewards vastly outweigh the risk.
After understanding correct principles about the purpose of mortal body, a wise practitioner can access the secrets of God’s greatest creation for the progression of society and the ennobling of the race–whether this practioner is a doctor or a painter. Just as a physician today studies all aspects of the human body in order to treat disease and promote health, the artist wishing to master the human form, whether clothed or nude, absolutely must study human anatomy as it appears in various light conditions and poses. With this knowledge and skill, the artist is free to depict the most inspiring themes relating to the human condition. These themes simply are not as profound when depicted with the distractions of man-made accouterments such as clothing.
For some examples of the profundity of the classical nude, one only needs to scroll to the top of this blog. Other famous examples include the sculpture of David by Michelangelo, Male nude by Jacques-Louis David, First Mourning by William Bouguereau, Bathsheba at her Bath by Rembrandt.
Less famous but just as noteworthy are Seated Nude by Jacob Collins , Male Nude Standing by Prud’hon, (actually almost anything by Prud’hon is outstanding) and The Risen Christ by Michelangelo.
If the modern mass media has so jaded our eyes so that we recall pornography rather than experience profound inspiration when looking at these pieces, then we are all the losers.
And who is so barbarous as not to understand that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe, and his skin nobler than that of the sheep with which he is clothed. —Michelangelo
