Day 330: war wounds

Today I heard a story about a deep sea diver who had a scary run-in with a shark. She had been bitten severely, but was recovering remarkably well. When she returned to her diving buddies they all asked to see the gnarly scar, and she sadly confessed it had healed really well; it was now just a small faint line. Everybody was so disappointed.

My viola is no big scary shark, but I have a few tiny war wounds myself, and I think I understand the scar-hungry-divers just a little bit. My fingers are calloused, my arm muscles bear a strange asymmetry, and my neck has the string player’s trademark “hickey,” a red mark that means I’ve been practicing plenty. To others these “war wounds” may be flaws, but to me they are the little signs that this is what I do and that lately I’m doing it enough.  I’m going to wear my callouses (etc.) with pride and keep practicing.

Day 282: Life happens; keep going.

Life happens. It is happening. For better or for worse.

It’s hard to predict what the next big glitch will be, but I think it’s fair to say there is pretty much always one coming. Sometimes the unexpected glitch will be something truly horrible: something life-altering and tragic and completely unfair. (Hopefully those are very rare.) More often, the glitch will be an everyday kind of problem. The kind of occurrence that has you telling your best friend, “being an adult is too hard!” And you would be right: it IS too hard. (This glitch is often a money problem, maybe something to do with your car or taxes. or utilities. Or maybe it’s upset family member or a friend’s forgotten birthday. It doesn’t matter. It’s an adult problem and it’s annoying and aaaaaggggghhhh!!!)

My point is, these things are all around us. I feel like we encounter at least a couple of them every single day. And it’s okay. WE WILL BE OKAY. The small stuff will end up being pretty small, and it’s helpful to remember this as often as possible.

Life happens. 99% of the time, we will be okay. And even if we aren’t okay, giving up IS NOT how we get back ourselves on track.

Glitches happen, and they can get in the way. But let’s keep at it: life happens; keep going.

Day 79: Playing isn’t practicing.

Playing and practicing are not the same thing. I could write about this endlessly. I probably will.

Today I only want to put forth that both playing and practicing have value. Many of my students play too much; many of my colleagues could benefit from a bit more playing. Today I did a bit of both, but it was the playing that I really needed. So I worked a bit, and I goofed off more.

Let’s remember to make at least a little music each day that isn’t difficult or taxing. Let’s remember to PLAY.