I love Chicago. This is a town who enjoys extreme the weather all year long. We get cold Winters, really cold, sometimes chillier than in the North Pole. That’s the season that makes you plan for everything, from making sure you’ve got a warm shelter to how many layers you’ll need to take the trash out. We are advised by the people on the screen to stay home and hunker down.
We have Springs when we can’t trust the skies. We might experience all four seasons in 24 hours. Last week alone we had to walk in snow boots one day and in sandals the next. And the rain, o, the spring rain! The leafless trees dripping with silver water, the sidewalks that brings mud everywhere and those optimistic runners that are already in shorts and T-shirts. We are usually instructed to stay home because a violent storm, a flood or maybe even a tornado is upon us.
Then the Summer overwhelms everything. It brings unbearable heat, dangerous storms, nasty winds, formidable rains. We get sunburns, dehydration. We all know that walking two blocks can becomes a torture. The cockpit of our car is boiling. All surfaces burn. For all these reasons we are advised not to go outside.
And, when you think you will get a break, the Fall comes. The weather grows unstable again. It delivers its first snow, the most dangerous ones because people have forgotten how to drive on slippery road. And, inevitably, the experts at the weather department tells us, yet again, to avoid being outside.
Have you noticed that there is a pattern, a sort of motto from the weather people? “Stay home, they say. Outside is unsafe, dangerous. You’d better stay indoors.” And, for the most part, we try to follow their advice. We spend more an more time at home.
So, now, the bad weather is raging outside your windows and you are stuck at home. what should you do? I propose this answer: play some music. Yes, learn an instrument. That’s what you should do. There’s nothing more relaxing and rewarding than doodling on a piano when the world ends outside. Nothing better than banging on the drums as the sixth inch of snow is falling on the ground. Music is a new skill, an activity that delivers all the treasures in the world. You won’t regret it.
I have my best practices when the streets are deserted, when the traffic is non-existent. I can then take my time, dig into a concept, rehash a tune to my heart content, polish up a new exercise. The hours spark with joy and awe. I am achieving something, which is not necessarily learning an instrument but rather growing inside. And anyway, what else am I going to do? Look at a screen and get entertained (meaning distracted) and waste another day? I prefer to play a few notes, it always makes me happy. Like I said: I love Chicago, it pushes me to be a musician.
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