Let me tell you about this piano. It belonged to my grandmother, and for the last 11 years it has belonged to me. My grandmother, Philly Krieks, was Dutch, born and raised in Amsterdam. She and one of her two sisters studied music and sang in the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus,...

The moment I hear something familiar in a new way, I feel a charge that to me epitomizes what it means to be alive. The moment engages us in its call to consider. I most recently experienced one of these moments listening to the radio in my car. I heard...