Want to Play More Musically? Hop Aboard!

Have you ever fantasized about taking a cross-country train journey?

I can’t be the only one. I imagine staring out the window, sipping a mysteriously good coffee while taking in the countryside as it unfolds.

Always, on this fantasy train trip, I am scrupulous in my attention. I take care to notice and acknowledge each and every wonder in turn: the stubborn hills and the endless plains, the sudden startle of the mountains and their spill toward the sea.

In reality, the trip unfolds differently.

Your three-year-old needs the toilet, which is dirty. The scenic vista sidles past while you’re standing in line for hotdogs, and the hotdogs are not that great. You can’t contemplate the vastness of nature very effectively over the dueling strains of Justin Bieber and thrash metal. And somebody, somebody quite close by, smells.

You really do want to appreciate the world’s marvels. In fact, you invested a lot of time and money and energy into getting yourself into a position to appreciate the world’s marvels. But there are distractions.

If you are a musician, your job is to take the fantasy train trip.

Playing a piece of music can be, and should be, a voyage of appreciation. In real time, you lavish your awareness on one marvel and then the next, dwelling on a juicy dissonance here, an exciting rhythm there, a worrying interval, a particularly delightful repetition to close..

You are- you must be- admiring the scenery each and every step of the way. Because your awareness and wonder is the only way to spark awareness and wonder in your listener.

But the three-year-old! The thrash metal! The toilets and the hotdogs and the Biebs!

Right. On your musical journey, there will always be things that can tear your attention away from the window. You miss a note or three; you’ve gone out of tune; you start thinking about your laundry. Maybe you’ve taken this particular train journey before- in fact, you’ve taken this particular journey so many times before that you just kinda glance at the mountains as you fire up your laptop.

Close it down. Look away. Seize your attention by the scruff of its neck and direct it back to the unspooling wonder of the world.

Our work is the window. Eyes up.