Glimpses of Heaven

All of the arts enrich our lives, but I think only music can give us moments that transcend reality and show us a glimpse of the ethereal. Over the course of more than fourscore years I’ve experienced this a few times, unforgettable moments that made me vividly aware we are more than bones and sinew and even thought.

One such experience was during a performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem performed at Lincoln Center by the New York Philharmonic and Westminster College Choir. A section of the Dies Irae, “Tuba mirum spargens sonum” (“The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound”). Verdi in his brilliance used a multitude of trumpets to depict that “wondrous sound.” In this performance, I have no idea how many trumpets we actually heard, but they were positioned throughout the room, on all sides of and I think even above the audience.

A single trumpet begins on a medium pitch. Sound is layered as more and more trumpets join, the volume and pitch rise to an almost unbearable intensity, timpani is added, and finally full orchestra and chorus break forth in a tidal wave of sound which is overwhelming and incredibly thrilling. At some point during this magnificent music, I felt myself elevated. I literally felt I was floating. I knew I was in a seat in what for me will always be Avery Fischer Hall … but I was also in another place, a place of such awesome and dazzling beauty I could only weep in wonderment.

I thought of that experience when I wrote my second novel, Eli’s Heart, in 2014. I’ve recently been revisiting the book, making a few changes by applying some of the skills I learn as I continue to write. With every art, whether visual, musical, or literary, we never stop learning and growing. American soprano Renée Fleming, one of the world’s most famous opera singers, recently referred to herself as a “work in progress.” I admired her even more on hearing that.

Eli Levin and Kristina Porter meet as young teens. They’re separated for three years, and then find their way back to each other and realize they want to spend their lives together. Music is what brought them into each other’s lives. Eli is a piano prodigy who was born with a serious congenital heart defect, and since this is the 1950s, they honestly don’t know how long his life might be. But however long they may have, they know music will be the heart of their love.

They’re both in college but on campuses some six hundred miles apart. They have a magical weekend together, make plans to marry in a year, and just before they have to go back to their separate lives, Eli plays piano one final time for Krissy. She sits on the piano bench with him as he plays, and they have this moment.

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     Eli had been born with two things: a damaged heart and a heart filled with music. That was how Krissy saw him now, and how she would always think of him. He played for her, and she closed her eyes and opened herself up to the music he was making.

   Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Minor began with repeated thick chords and heavy octave passages with large leaps up and down the keyboard, played rapidly. Eli pushed the tempo slightly; he loved doing that, especially with Rachmaninoff. The prelude had a grandeur and sweep to it, and demanded technical facility and strength. As with much of his music, Rachmaninoff slowed the tempo and introduced a beautiful melody, and the music became completely different, almost ethereal.

    As soon as Eli started the lyrical section, he felt some kind of shift in reality. The light became a soft glow, the air seemed different. He could feel his hands on the keys, he knew Krissy was touching him, but he felt he became a conduit for the music. It flowed through him and around him, opening up time and space. He continued to have a sense of transcendence through most of the section, and then the music gradually returned to the original idea, the sense of being somewhere else left him, and he was again sitting at Krissy’s piano playing Rachmaninoff for her.

     When he finished the piece, he sat quietly for a moment.  He turned to look at Krissy, and he could tell by the look of wonder on her face that she had made the journey with him. He asked softly, “Did you feel that?” Not wanting to speak, she nodded. They sat close together without feeling any need to talk, knowing what they had just experienced was remarkable.

Eli's Heart is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Elis-Heart-Carousel-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00LE5MNAK

Research: Up Close and Personal

When I first started writing, a friend recommended that I read Anne Lamott’s wonderful book Bird by Bird. Direct and to the point, Lamott gives the first-time writer encouragement and suggestions. One suggestion that impressed me was this:

There are an enormous number of people out there with invaluable information to share with you, and all you have to do is pick up the phone. They love it when you do, just as you love it when people ask if they can pick your brain about something you happen to know a great deal about — or, as in my case, have a number of impassioned opinions on.

Beginning with my second book, Eli’s Heart, I knew I was going to need to pick up the phone Ms. Lamott makes reference to. My principal character was born with a daunting congenital heart disorder, and a prodigious musical talent as a pianist. I know a little about playing piano but certainly not at Eli’s level. And I knew zero about Tetralogy of Fallot, the heart disorder.

I found Ms. Lamott was absolutely correct. It has been my good fortune to have crossed paths with many people of diverse talent during my lifetime. A young man who had performed the leading role in a musical I directed during his high school years, Dr.

Dr. Andrew Rennekamp

Andrew Rennekamp, was a medical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital when I began Eli’s Heart in 2014, and through him I connected with a cardiologist, Dr. Aarti Asnani, who was generous with her time and expertise to the point of doing research of her own as to how T.O.F. was treated sixty years earlier. 

Dr. Aarti Asnani

And a dear friend who is a remarkable pianist and a great teacher, Scott Besser, talked to me about what it felt like to face the challenges and the emotion of the musical literature Eli performed.

Scott Besser, Chris Souza

From that point on, with each succeeding book I’ve needed to phone at least one person for help with writing what I don’t know. The joy of that is how much I’ve learned and been able to convey through these novels. For Jamie’s Children, my character Laura is a violin prodigy. As much as I love hearing violin, I know very little about what it would be like to play the instrument. Another local musician and friend, the exceptional violinist and teacher Chris Souza, talked to me, read through some passages (just as Scott had with Eli’s Heart), and I began to get into Laura’s head.

Her brother Niall was an even greater challenge. Niall suffers from bipolar disorder and aspires to be a singer-songwriter. Mental disease—and in particular, bipolar disorder—is 

Nate Taylor

Dr. Andrew’s specialty. He was an enormous help, suggesting books and articles, and discussing the disease with me.

 A former voice student, Nate Taylor, who is an aspiring singer-songwriter, walked me through his journey and read my attempts at what it felt to perform great music such as “The Sound of Silence” as well as creating one’s own music.

More recently, writing about two brothers who survive service in Vietnam, only to be faced with the aftermath of emotional and mental stress, required a great deal of study about the war and what our military endured during those years. The two books in “The Cameron Saga,” Memories of Jake and Man with No Yesterdays, cover the war from the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to the fall of Saigon.

Col. Charles Vincent

After much online research, reading a number of mostly first-person accounts, and watching videos and films, through another former voice student I was put in contact with a remarkable man, Lt. Col. Charles J. Vincent, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a veteran of Vietnam and also of the Korean War. Again, I presented Col. Chuck with a list of questions he patiently addressed, and he agreed to read sections of both books to give me his suggestions and corrections. He even gave me the scenario for one brother’s final combat mission. I was fortunate enough to meet Chuck and consider him a friend.

For my latest venture, a mystery series set in the city I love, Cincinnati, in the 1960s, I needed assistance with police procedure

Lt. Stephen Kramer

overall and in particular during that era. Through the website for The Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society and Museum, I connected with retired Lt. Detective Stephen Kramer. When I wrote the first book in 2018, Lt. Kramer was President of the Society; he continues to be active as its Archivist. A writer himself, he understood what I was looking for and he has been kindly available for thus far four books in the “Augusta McKee Mystery Series.” He’s done more than help me with police procedure; he’s become vital in developing the character of Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell. It’s not at all unusual for Malcolm’s words to actually have come from an email from Lt. Kramer, with his kind permission.

In my personal experience, I haven’t found writing to be “a lonely profession” at all … not with the contacts, encouragement and support of remarkable people such as these. They’re part of my world.

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All my books are available on Amazon. You can find links to order 
on my website: www.susanmoorejordan.com
Or on my Amazon author page https://www.amazon.com/Moore-Jordan-Susan/e/B00IBZ731U