The Voice of the Cello

By Angela MacDonald

Photos by Carol Carnicom

Quiet Walk Photography

Like the deep vibrations of a Tibetan monk’s chant,

there is something sacred about the voice of a cello.

They say that infants feel the world in the way they did

before they were born.   They see sound, feel color, and do so

with closed eyes, their minds more expansive than the bodies they inhabit.

It is this very state of awareness so many seek to gain through meditation and prayer.

When there, it is the voice of the cello that vibrates

through the cords of the universe.

There is something that all will admit to about the cello.

A person needs only stand before a cello choir playing in unison,

and close his or her eyes.  The world you dwell in will vanish and the

realm of wizards, of magic and endless possibility will flood into you.

The mundane will take a step back, and dreams of space, of distant stars

and spinning galaxies, of deep mountains and shifting time,

of the depth of the earth, of gia, of gnomes and fairies, of the soul

will be carried to you on the rich tones of the cello.

The musician becomes a shaman, casting spells to open your mind and soul.

Creation does not recognize the instruments we hold as separate from us,

nor does it say “that is but a wooden box with strings”.  It recognizes vibration.

To the skilled musician who gives energy to the strings, the universe will say,

” Ah, there is the Great Hump Back Whale….

I sing back to you, Emerging Star….

I hear your slumbering soul  ….

Yes! We are one!!”

To all you musicians who become gods and goddesses by your creation

of the vision and by your transformation of the mundane,

“Thank You” from all who hear you,

and all those who don’t.

Author: Angela MacDonald – Daughter of a Cellist