My Idea of a Joyful Noise - Bruce Atchison

I'll admit it up front. I'm not a good musician. Even so, I had fun dabbling in electronic and experimental music. 

I must have done something right because program hosts in Moscow, Warsaw, Trondheim, and Paris figured my music was good enough to air. Even the CBC played one of my compositions and paid me a hefty royalty cheque.

Though my keyboard skills aren't up to professional standard, I worked diligently on each piece. I layered each instrument's sound on my multi-track machine in the way I felt worked best.

I also made chrome cassette copies of my music from the mix VHS tape. I could have skimped on the quality by using regular cassettes but I wanted the clearest sound possible. When I bought a new computer with a CD-R burner, I made my own disks for sale and to send to radio stations.

The Apostle Paul certainly understood the value of making use of our talents. Romans 12:6-8 (Bible in Basic English) does encourage us to use our talents. "And having different qualities by reason of the grace given to us, such as the quality of a prophet, let it be made use of in relation to the measure of our faith; Or the position of a Deacon of the church, let a man give himself to it; or he who has the power of teaching, let him make use of it; He who has the power of comforting, let him do so; he who gives, let him give freely; he who has the power of ruling, let him do it with a serious mind; he who has mercy on others, let it be with joy."

And as Proverbs 11:27 (BBE) says, "He who, with all his heart, goes after what is good is searching for grace; but he who is looking for trouble will get it.

Now some might say that my music was a vain waste of time. Even so, I knew that God used my compositions to bring disparate non Christians into my life. And as Isaiah 55:2 (BBE) says, so I modeled good Christian conduct in the hope it brought folks to salvation. "Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure."

Even today, my music videos are on YouTube for all to see and hear.

Take Note of Note Takers -- Bruce Atchison

I blogged some years ago about how my journal helped me remember my vacation to Trinidad in 1982. It certainly did help with the details when I wrote my How I Was Razed memoir. Many of the incidents either had faded from my mind or I misremembered them.

But notebooks aren't the only way we can remember times in our lives. Looking at photos and videos show subtleties which our notes might miss.

The snapshots and home videos of my bunnies sure helped me with details which I wrote in When a Man Loves a Rabbit. Seeing them doing all their cute things helped me to add an extra layer of description to my narrative.

When I wrote Deliverance from Jericho, I had few photos and no video reminders. Instead, I listened to songs from the sixties which brought back memories of those times. Some of those recollections were quite painful but writing them down became excellent therapy for me.

Old e-mail and newsgroup posts were also a great help with my writing. I save my correspondence and that helped me with my recalling of exactly what happened. The paper letters I kept likewise remind me of what people wrote and even the style of their writing.

One thing I enjoy doing when on vacation is recording local radio stations. The cassettes I taped in Trinidad as well as when I visited Moscow in 1997 gave me the local cultural flavour of the two countries. I still treasure those recordings and I've digitized them.

I'm glad I hung on to all those letters, floppy disks, tapes, photos, and videos. And thanks to YouTube, I was able to find songs which I didn't have in my music collection. In future, I'd like to scan all of these letters so  I can preserve them. My nephews and nieces might be curious someday about what their strange uncle with the rabbits wrote.