There are no Rules.
There are Guidelines, effective and affective ways to get sound from your instrument. There are the restrictions of your body and your instrument, the limits of physics. There are the gifts and drawbacks of Time.
But there is no One Way to rule them all.
There are many routes to playing an instrument. There is a wide area of experiences, time, and players’ accomplishments that make up what we call playing music. A long, deep history. And an infinite field of future potential. We each explore that territory as we become a player.
. . .a “Player”. When we come to music through an instrument we ask ourselves who that Player that is me will be. When we seek out and pick up an instrument for the first time, we’ve already made a first decision on who that player, that “me” will be.
In a greatly rewarding sense a huge part of that search is over: there’s no other You. Start there. You’re the Player.
There are players who play rarely but enjoy it when they do. Some just can’t put the darn thing down, play all day and night.
Players who play in church one day a week. Players on the street. Players who gain calming security from strict, formalized methods, sometimes for all their lives, who walk easily along that path. There are players who defiantly refuse what anyone says and do it their way, led on by strong, inner vision.
Soloists. Band members. Orchestra members. People who play soccer stadiums to hold all their fans. People who play alone at home. YTubers playing for virtual fans. An ‘ukele’le by a fire on the beach, getting everyone to join in song.
There are players who read every note or line of tab. There are players who play everything from memory. There are players who make it up as they go. There are players who imitate a single idol’s work. Players who only play themselves.
All this is a way of saying you, as a player, can be — learn to be — who you are through exploring how to make music on the instrument that you choose or that chose you.
You can draw on the long history of players and musics of the past and today to inspire and lead you on. Emulate or use their inspiration to fire your own, use as avenues of discovering who you are. And you don’t have to let anyone else’s defense of their approach (which often is an attack on others’) create doubt about you. Because you’re not them, you’re you.
Try on other players’ techniques, styles, histories, compositions. It’s a very good way to learn. You can clone them, play only like them, but that would deprive the world of you.
It’s a vast territory, Music, and you only have to explore it as much as you want. Or have time to in your daily life. Where you “end up” is just fine. If you can’t stop exploring, that’s fine, too. One way is not “better” than the other.
One thing can be said with certainty: there aren’t many shortcuts. No magic wand waved to give technical skill.
You have to spend time with Music and the instrument. You have to make friends with repetition. You have to practice. But practice will be rewarded. Mindful, awake practice especially.
That’s easier if you have a Music you love.
If you have that already, you’re already lucky.
Music is its own reward.
There are Guidelines, effective and affective ways to get sound from your instrument. There are the restrictions of your body and your instrument, the limits of physics. There are the gifts and drawbacks of Time.
But there is no One Way to rule them all.
There are many routes to playing an instrument. There is a wide area of experiences, time, and players’ accomplishments that make up what we call playing music. A long, deep history. And an infinite field of future potential. We each explore that territory as we become a player.
. . .a “Player”. When we come to music through an instrument we ask ourselves who that Player that is me will be. When we seek out and pick up an instrument for the first time, we’ve already made a first decision on who that player, that “me” will be.
In a greatly rewarding sense a huge part of that search is over: there’s no other You. Start there. You’re the Player.
There are players who play rarely but enjoy it when they do. Some just can’t put the darn thing down, play all day and night.
Players who play in church one day a week. Players on the street. Players who gain calming security from strict, formalized methods, sometimes for all their lives, who walk easily along that path. There are players who defiantly refuse what anyone says and do it their way, led on by strong, inner vision.
Soloists. Band members. Orchestra members. People who play soccer stadiums to hold all their fans. People who play alone at home. YTubers playing for virtual fans. An ‘ukele’le by a fire on the beach, getting everyone to join in song.
There are players who read every note or line of tab. There are players who play everything from memory. There are players who make it up as they go. There are players who imitate a single idol’s work. Players who only play themselves.
All this is a way of saying you, as a player, can be — learn to be — who you are through exploring how to make music on the instrument that you choose or that chose you.
You can draw on the long history of players and musics of the past and today to inspire and lead you on. Emulate or use their inspiration to fire your own, use as avenues of discovering who you are. And you don’t have to let anyone else’s defense of their approach (which often is an attack on others’) create doubt about you. Because you’re not them, you’re you.
Try on other players’ techniques, styles, histories, compositions. It’s a very good way to learn. You can clone them, play only like them, but that would deprive the world of you.
It’s a vast territory, Music, and you only have to explore it as much as you want. Or have time to in your daily life. Where you “end up” is just fine. If you can’t stop exploring, that’s fine, too. One way is not “better” than the other.
One thing can be said with certainty: there aren’t many shortcuts. No magic wand waved to give technical skill.
You have to spend time with Music and the instrument. You have to make friends with repetition. You have to practice. But practice will be rewarded. Mindful, awake practice especially.
That’s easier if you have a Music you love.
If you have that already, you’re already lucky.
Music is its own reward.