Made to Create-Interview with Yuriy Kravets

Hello, everyone. I’m honored to welcome Yuriy Kravets to Made to Create! Yuriy was involved in the birth of Lyrica Sacra, a choir and orchestra group based in Pennsylvania. He and his family play various instruments and sing together. Find his music videos on Youtube under Yuriy Kravets or Lyrica Sacra. In this interview we’ll talk about how music has shaped his life and awareness of God.

Sheri Yutzy: Hi Yuriy, thank you for joining us. Let’s delve into your musical life. When did you first discover your interest in music?
Yuriy Kravets: Ever since I remember. According to home videos from the previous millennium, I was singing and tinkering with instruments whenever opportunity presented itself. 🙂

SY: Finding a creative niche as a child can build a wonderful foundation for creativity in adulthood. You perform with your brothers at times. How has having a musical family shaped your view of music?
YK: Perhaps the most significant is how music is an expression and vehicle for values and culture. You are very much what you listen to and what you promote. It’s amazing how certain musical styles regularly come with a certain set of values!

SY: Hmm, I like that thought of music being a vehicle for values and culture. I suppose that goes for books and crafting and other areas of life. What is the most fulfilling area of music for you?
YK: Creating music where I know in my heart that God is getting all the glory and that others are blessed.

Yuri directing Lyrica Sacra in Anthem for Easter.

SY: What have you learned about God’s creativity through music?
YK: Perhaps the most fascinating to me is the harmonic series. The fact that God created this particular series of vibrations that produce a certain set of sounds is marvelous!

SY: It is marvelous. He’s already created all the sounds. We can only mold them into melodies and harmonies. What piece of advice would you give to someone who wants to learn music, but feels they don’t have the talent?
YK: At the end of the day, if you are in good health of mind and body, it will be the time you put in. Having had a fair number of students throughout the past ten years, I’ve seen this principle reinforced over and over.

SY: That’s encouraging, especially for those who’ve started pursuing music later in life. What are your primary objectives with your musical career?
YK: My primary reason for being involved in music is to bring glory to God, to give back what I can for what He has given me. Along with that perspective, there is a whole range of opportunities available to use music as a vehicle for godly values and I find great joy whenever such opportunities present themselves. One practical way that music can be used is in closing the gap between the older and younger people in a local church setting. I noticed significant change in how some of the little people in our church started relating to me when my brother and I volunteered to have informal music classes for the children after church. Along those lines, it is of great interest to me that making music is one of the few things that have a spiritual focus that can be engaged in by old and young alike at the same time.

SY: I love that. Music knows no age limits.

Thank you for sharing your musical journey with us! May our readers be inspired to enjoy God’s creative nature through music.

And thank you readers for being here. Can you use the same music to worship with as your parents or grandparents do? What can you do to lessen the gap between generations? Comment below.