Making music safe.

Which really means making living, really daring to live, rather than just surviving, safe.

I mean, of course life isn’t safe. None of us gets out of here alive.

But have you noticed how fraught music seems to be with fear, even though we love it so much?

When we pay money to see a famous conservatory educated star take the stage, we can deeply respect their hard work and admire their amazing artistry. But implicit in the whole musical system is, I can be up here because I am a Musician, and the rest of you can “keep your day jobs”.

I get into conversations all the time that go something like this: A person sees me carrying my violin case and asks, is that a violin? Usually they guess right, though the other guesses are interesting. And then, almost always, the person will tell me that they once studied the violin or another instrument, but they have no talent/ gave it up as a kid/ didn’t like their teacher/ didn’t practice but they sure wish they could play now. Or they say that their child plays and they wish they had the time to learn to play themselves because they always loved the sound of the violin.

and then I usually say, “it’s never too late to start back up!” and smile.

almost always, the reply is NOT “I will!”/ “I have scheduled lessons!” / “I am clearing time in my schedule to learn!” / “I know it will take a while
but I’m determined and I love it too much!” / “I can’t afford a teacher right now – so I am teaching myself from the Internet!”

No, that would be my ideal world. Almost always, they tell me about all their reasons WHY NOT.

I good-naturedly kept answering one woman’s rebuttals, thinking she was being lighthearted, saying sure, you can take lessons at any age (she’d taken them as a kid, but didn’t have the ear for it, didn’t have the time for it, etc.), until she finally spat, “And it’s too expensive to maintain a violin!” and walked away. Really? Sure, I buy a new set of strings a couple times a year now since I play just about every day, but for years I just made do with a grand total of $0 expended in upkeep and my 100 year old violin hasn’t exploded yet – I think a newer one would do just fine. What were her prohibitive expenses? A cake of rosin once every three years? A polishing cloth?

I realized she had to justify why she wasn’t doing something she would really love to do. To her, I was a rich, extravagant person with loads of free time and money, I guess.

I understand, though, where her mind was. It wasn’t that long ago that I thought I studied music up to a point, and then I had to face the Real World and realize music was just something one does when one is young, and I wasn’t cut out to be one of the sacred, few Real Musicians because I didn’t play like That Person, and I had to study Serious Things instead.

Trouble was, music IS the lens that lets me make sense of the world, Serious Things and all.

So, it is my mission, now, to help make music safe for all. Not safe-boring, but safe-yes-this-includes-you-too-not-just-those-perfect-people. Whether that means physical or mental or learning blocks!

What music tendernesses have you bumped into along the way?

Oh, and by the way, it’s my birthday today! I thought I’d celebrate by having all lessons – Alexander Technique, violin, and enhanced lessons – $35.00 (normally $75.00) if you prepay for them by midnight tonight, April 7, 2012, EST. Once your lesson is paid for, then email me at diana.rumrill (at) harmoniousbodies.com or use the website form to schedule the day and time at one of my DC area locations!

Lesson Types

Alexander Technique lesson $35.00 USD Violin lesson $35.00 USD Enhanced lesson (other instrument) $35.00 USD

Recently, I discovered a wonderful blog by Jeffrey Agrell and Evan Mazunik on improvisation. They recently posted an equally great quote by podcast interviewee Stephen Nachmanovitch which I think bears repeating:

“You don’t have to practice boring exercises, but you have to practice something. If you find the practice boring, you don’t run away from it, but don’t tolerate it either. Transform it into something that suits you. If you are bored playing a scale, play the same eight tones but change the order. Then change the rhythm. Then change the tone color. Presto, you have just improvised. If you don’t think the result is very good, you have the power to change it- now there is both a supply of raw material and some judgment to feed back the process. This is especially effective with classically trained musicians who think they can’t play without a score or develop technique without exact repetition of some exercises in a book.” –Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play

This quote got me thinking for several reasons. One is the electrifying power of making up your own stuff, also known as improvisation. My 4-9 year old violin students beg to do this in their lessons (and we do). It is so great to be the boss of what your music should sound like, since in Western music we so often glamorize imitating someone else’s sound and composition.

The second reason is central to making real changes in both learning and healing from an injury:

Thinking in a new way.

It’s such a small, courageous step that makes ALL the difference.

The same old approaches to how you learn or how you treat your body aren’t working. Or, maybe, they’re working fine. Not great, not as fantastic as you could imagine, but… fine.

What could happen if you tried something new?

This year I’m trying new things at Harmonious Bodies, being brave to turn more towards teaching where I feel the real changes lie – though don’t worry, I’ll still be offering physical therapy sessions for the foreseeable future! I’m trying new methods in my violin teaching and new ways of practicing in my own musical growth. It feels good so far, like repotting a plant that got too big for its container.

What new ways of thinking are you trying out this year?