This quote came on the tag to my tea this morning.
I found it pretty applicable to music, so I made a pretty little image to inspire me and others. Everybody wants to be able to play like Yo-Yo Ma or Glenn Gould. Yet nobody wants to put the time in to get there. Isn't that what makes the great, well, great? Last night over dinner, I was telling my boyfriend about an invention I thought would make my job so much easier if I could just find an engineer to make it. It would be like a full sleeve that you put on your arm, and it makes the motions for you, so that you can remember what the motion felt like. This would help with the toughest element of music making, muscle memory! My boyfriend looked at me like I was crazy, so I said "what?" He responded, "Leilah, that would take away everything that is beautiful about music. That would make it incredibly mechanic and think about the many years and efforts that you put into learning your instrument. What you're asking is for is basically information to be uploaded immediately. This would mean that anybody could learn to play music well almost immediately. Where's the beauty in that? Where's the struggle and beauty in defeat there? That would just create mass of robot-like musicians."
Wow. I was just trying to make my job easier. Haha! But he's right! It would only devalue music even more so than it already is, because "everybody could do it".
I hope this is encouraging for everyone as you struggle to find the right balance of work and fun in your music practice.
Happy Practicing,
-Ms. Leilah
