The end of the music

Dear readers and writers,

I've been reading about Amy Hempel this weekend, in preparation for my class on Wednesday, and she talks about finding the first and last sentence in a story, how that guides the entire writing process.  I was fascinated.  I've started to love sentences, to revel in their intricacies or simplicities.

Then, I went on Facebook and saw that at St. Paul's Church, my friend LizBeth mourned the financial necessity to end the position there of the paid music director.  She said this was a bittersweet day as the choir sang out the beloved Jim French.  The end of the music.  Yes, something there calls me to a story.  I don't know when I will write it, because I only have the first sentence so far.

When music ends...that has always fascinated me, and many others, with the song "American Pie."  The day the music died.  The end of rock and roll.  Of course, music lives on, yes, that's true.  But when people who make it die, or lose their jobs, music disappears in one place.  It pops up somewhere else, later, not now, not here.  So that first sentence, "The end of the music," resonates, loaded with mystery and sadness.

regards,
Laura
Image from Creative Commons, with thanks.