My first introduction to classical music was when at the age of 9 years old, the school class was asked to sit and listen to Sergei Prokofiev’s children’s classic, Peter and the Wolf – I was mesmerized by it and later acquired a recording of it on a vinyl  disc.

Earlier this week I played Peter and the Wolf in my car as I drove home from work  – (not on vinyl, but CD!), and this beautiful children’s piece of music, called again for my inner attention to its beauty.

The piece, introduces children to the instruments of an orchestra, which represent a young Russian boy Peter as the strings; his cat as the clarinet; his friend the bird as the flute; his grandfather as the bassoon; the duck as the oboe; the wolf as the three horns; and the huntsmen as the kettledrums.

This segmentation of the characters of the story, as separate and distinct instruments, which are introduced by the narrator individually, and later blended in with the other characters, spoke to my inner voice of my own journey of development to know and love self.

When we make a decision to confront ourselves in the fullness of our truth and identity, it is necessary to unravel each strand of the issues which have crowded in our lives so that they can be seen and heard and recognised individually and then gradually fitted back into their place within our lives with a fuller understanding of their truth, their purpose, their pain, their love, their hopes and their fears for each of us.

Peter and the Wolf is a beautiful piece of music, iconic and wonderful and if we take the time to apply its teaching to the complexities of our lives, we will begin to see, that we too, are iconic and wonderful  human beings.

……….  and that includes me, and it also includes you!

My next blog will be: Authentic Conversation

William Defoe

Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Петя и волк, Petya i volk), Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is achildren’s story (with both music and text by Prokofiev), spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra