A brand new student, eyes wide open, will have a ready answer to this age old question of what the purpose of music is. They will get on the seat of the piano or the drums and they will say “Fun!” as they play. At this point, that’s all that matters. They decided to take lessons just for that.
Then we meet.
Oh, I do try to make it fun. I never lose sight of that. It’s not that I am a clown in charge of entertaining the crowd, it’s just that I was born with a sense of humor and that I do actually think that music is fun. So, I do pass on that fun to the student.
At every stage.
That’s the difficult part, isn’t it? To find the fun at every step of studying an instrument. Well, the way I feel about it is that even if I have to sweat and curse in order to get comfortable with the simplest of concept, that’s still worth it to me, that’s still playing. So, I love it. More than that, as I sharpen my tools and make my mind, body and hands do things I couldn’t dream of 2 or 3 years ago, I am very aware that I am becoming Superman. How do I know that? Because I make a living in music.
But, what music teaches you is messy, because it is human. The pain is always attached to the joy, the shame to the pride. It’s unavoidable. I suppose you want an example. All right. Let’s say you playing along a song and you know there is this big fill coming up. That’s a bit that’s barely your level and that you’re not sure you can play. What’s certain, though, is that if you face plant that part, you’ll be very embarrassed. But, as the seconds tick, the passage is coming ever closer. And here it is! And here you go! Although you’re bright red and your heart’s pumping acid, you fly into the fill like there’s no tomorrow. And you stick the landing! Huzzah! The potential shame is transformed into pride and joy.
For these moments and so many others are the reasons why I stick to it. And also because I am very stubborn. I don’t like to quit when I know it’s going to be good, even if that possibility is in the far future. I guess that’s part of what music taught me: resilience and the hope of a better future.