Adversity

Let’s suppose you are about to take some piano lessons. You have made your decision, you have chosen a teacher (me!), you have figured out your budget. In one word: you have all your ducks in a row.

But, as you were about to dial the number to make your first appointment, you see a letter in the mail. It is a bill. A big one. It doesn’t matter for what. What matters is that you hang up the phone and give up on the idea of taking music lessons for now. You have to solve this problem before anything else.

A week later, you are still determined. This time you took care of everything, including that bill. You are ready. But, all of the sudden, you notice a funny noise coming from the engine of your car. Not a funny haha! noise, not at all. A funny as in “this-is-going-to-be-expensive” kind of noise. If it’s not the car, it could be the washing machine that starts to smoke, or you discover a leak in your basement, etc…

Yes, life will take you away from studying music. It is almost unavoidable.  For one simple reason: if you want music to become part of your life, you have to remember that life is never easy.

So, what to do?

Try to face adversity as it comes and keep your focus on what’s important. If music is essential, and having lessons is part of that, find a way to keep them going. Plan ahead. For example, have a fund specially dedicated to music lessons, just in case you come to a tough spot.  Also, have a few project that are either free or produce some money for your lessons: a band doing a few gigs per month can provide that. If you’re not part of a band, have the project of a recording, or composing a song,or  arranging a new part,or tackling a difficult exercise. Keep your mind around the subject of music, go to your instrument, use it to express the pains and pleasures of your life, keep music for what it is: your way of coping with the world.

The difficult moments, hopefully, will pass. But, if you work a bit at it, music will not, music will stay in your life, and it will help you envision your existence with a bit more light, a bit more hope. Because even the sadness in the music can sooth us. Ask any Blues man.