The same day, his mischievousness pushed him to play a trick on the god Apollo by stealing his oxen and making them walk backwards so that their footprints were not in the right direction, leaving no clue on where they could have gone. He had the idea to empty this carapace, to stretch two rods of reed to maintain a frame for the instrument that he plans to create and stretched seven guts of ewe to make the strings: the lyre was created. He immediately had the idea of transforming the turtle’s shell, which resonated when he knocked on it, into a musical instrument: his artisanal, creative skills emerged from this episode. One of the most famous episodes recounted in the Homeric Hymns composed in his honor is that one day, at noon, as a young child, he had left the family home and, on the way, found a dead turtle. His mischievousness is not lacking, but so is his dexterity and mental alertness. Indeed, Hermes accomplishes feats as well as childish mischief and gets himself talked about in the Olympus from his earliest childhood. He’s also very clever, a lively mind who likes to talk, to communicate, to exchange, to debate… Let’s turn to Mythology to identify how is everything linked: Mercury or Hermes, is illustrated in many mythological episodes, while he’s still a very young child… The Gemini air sign is often associated with the Puer Aeternus, or “eternal child”, the mischievous teenager who experiments and wants to see for himself where his idea will lead him. Richard Tiegs coordinates music columns for the Press-Citizen.Hermes’s legacy in the Zodiac wheel and the Gemini sign As another Greek goddess inspires us: Just do it! Or beating me in the writing contest this weekend. Okay, you have to stretch Urania a bit, but remember “Stars Fell on Alabama” as the “moon hit your eye like a big pizza pie.” The point is that many times music was closely associated with the presentation of each muse, both here and on Olympus.Įven without being musical, you can have a muse to inspire your work, whether performing on stage or writing something for presentation. Together, these represented the well-rounded individual and you can see the music in them. Clio (history) and Urania (astronomy) rounded out the Muses for the Greeks. Calliope and Erato were muses for epic poetry and love poetry, respectively. Thalia (comedy) and Melpomene (tragedy) were the muses of theater. Most church people have a favorite song, although we credit another for the inspiration. The lyric and cadence of songs of praises move many. In many of my columns, I have alluded to my participation in the art of sacred song. Polyhymnia (name means many praises) was the muse for paeans extolling virtues and heroics of the Olympian gods. … How many weddings have you attended where the bride and groom don’t have some kind of dance together to celebrate their new union? Even cuddling my infants, I practiced “slow dancing, swaying to the music …" It just was a little confining in church! My musical mentor used to say, “All music must dance.” Some of the favorite music in the world is meant for dance: Swan Lake, Nutcracker, polka and schottische, waltz and laendler. Why did she get in the music column? I think music and dance are interrelated. Her sister, Terpsichore (name means delight in dancing), was the muse of dance. Most of the writings of this column in which we extol the virtues of performed music could be credited to her.
She could take that which was done by her sisters and turn it into song or even instrumental music. Their role was to entertain the Olympian gods and inspire mere mortals in the arts.Įuterpe (name means well-pleased or good delight, literally) was the muse for music and song. Not much is written of them, but much is credited to be written through them. And before I am done writing this, I will have consulted my mythology resources to make sure I don’t miss a one of them. There are nine muses in ancient Greek mythology. Euterpe, Terpsichore and Polyhymnia were probably not happy having their names invoked thusly, but I did have a 500-word limit. I took three muses closely associated with music and created adjectives of their names. As I wrote the final column of 2022, I created three words that may have baffled you.
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