Two-Part Invention

A two-part invention is a short contrapuntal composition in which two independent melodies are woven together to create one piece of music. They push both the pianist’s skill and ear. My piano teacher says they are like fiber. Everyone needs them, but nobody wants them. When I started playing my first invention, that’s exactly how I felt, but in the end I came to love the intricate texture of these little pieces and actually requested to play more, much to the amusement of my teacher. I began to see how the two “independent” parts intertwined like the threads of a tapestry, interlocking so neatly, so perfectly they could no longer be separated for danger of destroying the art. As I pondered this newly discovered beauty, I quickly came to the conclusion that my life is a two-part invention. I live each day in counterpoint with my beautiful Savior. It is a complex relationship, and we are certainly both independent, but as we walk together our hearts are so deeply intertwined that we become one. We become one beautiful song. We cannot be separated, for I am nothing without Him, and the art would be lost. Together though, the music is incomparably stirring. It’s a glorious picture, and I can’t help falling in love, which is fine with me. One should never shrink away from falling in love. Never. Even with two-part inventions.

In Counterpoint

As my hands glide

Across the black and white

I can see a picture

Of the way I’d like to live my life

As melodies

Intertwine

In an intricate kind

Of beauty

I feel my soul cry

For Your heart

To come and meet with mine

In counterpoint

A composition so divine

And sacred

And I realize

That I just might

Fall madly in love

With the Composer

And that’s perfectly alright

For this is Life

In counterpoint

Stephanie M. Frakes

(January 29, 2009)