In anticipation of Father’s Day, I got my husband a book by Mike Murdoch called “The Uncommon Leader”. It is one of these books that seems easy to get through, only around 100 pages long and to the point. I started to flip through the pages and was soon was reeled into it. The next thing I found myself totally immersed and now I have almost read through the whole book (that’s nice–to present a gift that’s already used, but that’s another story. My husband has a high level of patience with me…)

I was so struck by one chapter called ‘Make Tomorrow Bigger than Yesterday”. It talks about how to stay focussed on the future, despite the disappointments and failures of the past.

A great example of this principle was found in the life of St. Paul, the apostle. Murdoch writes:

“Paul refused to wallow in the tears of his past. Few made greater mistakes than he. He caused people to be cast into prison. Christians were murdered because of him. He held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, the great deacon. Yet, he refused to forfeit his future by focusing on his past.

His mistakes were OVER
His sins were BEHIND him

and
HIS NAME WAS CHANGED.”

The Bible promises in 2 Corinthians 5:17 : “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

What a powerful truth– we can become new creatures. This is really like a whole identity make-over!

When St. Paul experienced his conversion, he ceased operating in his previous identity as a Pharisee who was hunting Christians. He could have stayed in a place of perpetual guilt, imprisoned and paralyzed in his mind. But the Holy Spirit broke those chains and empowered him to step out boldly as a new creature. And to prove this he ceased being known as Saul, his previous identity, and became Paul.

Sometimes we want to break free from the shackles of the past but to truly step into that we need to become a new creature as the Scripture tells us. To seal it, why not put a name on it?

It’s a new day…it’s time for a new name.
What’s yours?

Ich Ruf zu dir Herr, Bach-Busoni

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My new book: Soli Deo Gloria

This book is about heightening our awareness. Its aim is to prompt an experience of greater perception. My aim could be summarized in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He describes the act of perception as a re-birth in beholding the hidden beauty of our world:

The highest exercise of imagination is not to devise what has no existence, but rather to perceive what really exists, though unseen by the outward eye–not creation, but insight.

I have written this book with the intention that it be used as a tool to look at the world and listen to the pulse of creation in a new way. To do this, I will not attempt to invent a radically new paradigm. On the contrary, I will be using a classic pairing that has been around since the beginning of time: the combination of music and words. To be more specific, the music of JS Bach paired with The Word of the Bible.

Perception is a product of the sensory information we receive from the world around us. This can happen on a conscious and subconscious level. There is a real power that can be gained when we combine the two worlds; the conscious world of our intellect with the subconscious world of our soul and spirit. Each fuels and enriches the other. Therefore, by combining the music of JS Bach with the power of the Biblical Word that inspired the music, we get the greatest benefit. Intellect is married with intuitive perception. Body, soul and spirit are nourished.

JS Bach was a man with a deep Faith. He used his art for the purpose of glorifying God. His works were largely based on the Bible, which he committed to memory and referenced in highly complex ways within his music. Through his evolved musical language, numerical symbolism and hidden codes he actually encrypted biblical meaning inside his music.

Most of these references are so well embedded that they can only be perceived on a subconscious level. For instance in one piece of music that describes the earthquake at Christ’s death, Bach inserts a repeated pattern of notes to highlight the trembling quality. Upon further examination, the music manuscript presents these notes subdivided into unusual groupings, such as a set of 18, 46 followed by a set of 60. This may seem like an unimportant detail. And certainly this is something that the listener cannot even register on a conscious level. So why is this worth mentioning?

A careful study of these numbers show that they are not at all arbitrary. Bach intentionally inserted this numerical grouping because those numbers 18, 46 and 60 correspond with the Old Testament book of Psalms. Psalms 18,46 and 60 all have to do with earthquakes. Therefore, Bach reinforces the message of the Gospel by musically quoting the Old Testament. It is magnificent, not accidental and absolutely prophetic! Also for the listener it is perceived absolutely subconsciously, yet the message is full of power. It is like a mother hiding the broccoli in a heap of mashed potatoes as she feeds her toddler!

For these reasons, I feel that this book paired with the music of JS Bach will unlock a whole new vista of possibilities. For the Spiritual Seeker, this combination will help to reinforce the Word of the Bible. For the music lover who might have put matters of the spirit on the back burner, this may be a doorway to a new realm of experience.

I invite you to take this journey and open your senses to a new world of perception.

My mission in music is to awaken listeners to deeper realms of perception.

Music is something we cannot hold or touch. It is intangible yet a powerful force. It can change us.

Hailed by the American Music Guide for her “versatility in many styles that emphasize her chameleon-like transformations,” Margaret Wacyk is a trailblazer who is breathing new life into the art of piano playing.

As a soloist, Miss Wacyk has concertized in the United States and Europe.  This is her fourth solo recording.  Her second CD, “Piano Works” was chosen as Gramophone Magazine’s “Best New Releases from North America”.

Miss Wacyk has developed a following in the music educational community due to her revolutionary approach to the piano, which has a special focus on a technique of tone production. This system has its roots in an archived 19th century method, which she has researched with over twenty years of relentless exploration.  As a result of these experiences, she authored a groundbreaking book called “Ultimate Piano Playing” opening up the old-world secrets to acquiring rich and effortless tone for pianists of all levels.

Her recording and companion book Soli Deo Gloria”(To God the Glory)explores the spiritual power embedded in the music of JS Bach.  Bach’s motivation in writing his music was to glorify and reflect the awesomeness of God.  Soli Deo Gloria is a fresh re-examination of Bach’s true intention and an invitation to experience the restorative and healing presence of God through the world of sound

Bach: Soli Deo Gloria

A recording of featuring the music of Bach and transcriptions.

This is a groundbreaking recording and book where Bach’s music is presented in its original intention: His music is paired with the Biblical Scriptures which gave birth to the sounds. Bach’s goal to have his music be a source of Glory to God- That is why he signed all of his pieces with the initials SDG – Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone the Glory).

In this modern world, starved for Truth and Beauty, it is now the time to raise up  Bach’s Anthem of Faith and receive the powerful benefits that are embedded in the notes and in the Word that inspired them!

My mission in music is to awaken listeners to deeper realms of perception.

Music is something we cannot hold or touch. It is intangible yet a powerful force. It can change us. Read more

Through my research in attaining the elusive ‘golden tone’ I am committed to educating pianists all over the world on how to generate this type of magnetic sound. Every tone that a pianist plays holds tremendous power and so the responsibility is huge. Therefore, the ground work is being laid for a acoustical revolution: Bringing BEAUTY back!!

In our high speed modern world, cold virtuosity for its own sake is hollow and unsatisfying–Audiences need to be inspired and have their souls nourished by beauty. To be transported in one’s soul through a communion with music is one of the most profound, otherworldly experiences we could have as a collective audience and the time for beauty and elegance is now!

Ahhh….It’s been quite an interesting time.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog–but I hope I have a pretty good excuse- I’ve been hard at work with my new project called ‘SDG’. ‘SDG’ are the initials the composer JS Bach used to sign all his compositions. In Latin this means: “Soli Deo Gloria”–To God the Glory.

This project has been quite a journey for me. It started out innocently enough around three years ago-an idea to perform and record a program of only Bach pieces and some lesser known transcriptions. Sounds straightforward enough, right. Wrong!

I started to choose and practice these pieces–all sorts of gems of the repertoire, such as the English Suite in g minor, the dramatic Bach-Busoni Toccata and Fugue in D minor and lesser known pearls such as the beautiful Prelude transcription by a forgotten genius of the piano named Alexander Siloti, who was a student of Franz Liszt and relative of Rachmaninoff.

The learning of pieces is one thing–but giving them time to develop within one’s soul is quite another. And with Bach, this process could never be taken lightly, as his music was written for one reason and One reason alone: for the Glory of God.

Okay, so this puts the stakes higher. As I let these pieces mature and ‘marinate’ I decided to take my research a step further. I began to link the pieces in my program to the passages in the Bible that Bach got his inspiration from. And THIS was the real game changer.

As I read the passages from the Bible and referenced the musical score, I got a deeper sense of the ‘word-painting’ in sound that Bach was engaging in. Furthermore, I started to grow in a deeper spiritual awareness. I began to get revelations about the power of this music and the nature of the Divine that it is steeped in.

This has developed into a CD and book called ‘Soli Deo Gloria’. It is expected to be released in April, 2013.

I am so excited to share this with you and will making updates regularly.

Blessings!