Day 327: beginning

There is an energy that we wish to have when we first begin to play our instruments, particularly for the first time in a given day. It almost doesn’t matter what we are about to play, we hope to begin from a place of comfort and stillness. We want our bodies to be calm and our worries to be quiet. Each day, we have the great fortune to begin again, throwing away any of the stress or tension or mistakes of yesterday. If we begin our work with all of that tension and worry, what can we expect to feel after considerable concentration and effort?

Let’s remember to start each day’s work with care, and to approach our instruments with a calm and purposeful energy.

Day 235: “do I have to move around?”

I was helping a student find her inner violinist today. I told her it’s time to come into her own and stop being a “kid musician” and just be a “musician.” She nodded thoughtfully, then said: “do I have to move around? Because that always messes me up.”

I told her no, at least not for now. Movement is okay, but it certainly shouldn’t be getting in the way. (And it’s a logical question, right? She sees musicians moving all the time, and when she tried to move like they did it was just a gigantic distraction.) I assured her that expression may (later) result in some physical movement or a funny facial expression, but that those are just symptoms of the magic.

The magic is in the magic. And the stillness is beautiful, too.