When I’m teaching a student to play or sing a new piece of music they tend to slow down in the hard parts and then race through the easier parts.

It’s a natural tendency we all have and something we have to fight against in music in order to keep a steady tempo.

And so I remind my students…It’s not a race.

Slow down and learn the notes.

It will all come together eventually and become a beautiful song.

And then I realize how true that is in life.

We’ve all heard slow and steady wins the race haven’t we?

Yet it’s so easy to get caught up in the fast and furious pace all around us.

I know I’m often tempted to skip ahead to something that looks more fun or easier than where I am now.​

So this is a reminder to myself…It’s not a race.

Enjoy the journey…Eventually it will turn into be a beautiful song.

Through teaching music, I learn about life.

Especially from the refreshingly honest perspective of children.

I’m constantly amazed at their insights and intuition!

Yesterday as I was explaining to a student dynamics (playing loud versus soft) we had an interesting discussion. He was protesting the need to play soft because playing loud is so much easier.

He is totally right…playing soft does take practice and develops fine motor skills that you don’t have immediately.

It also requires a level of concentration and discipline that only develops over time.

(I suspect he also enjoys playing loud because it annoys his younger siblings…but that’s just a theory!)

It’s much easier to be loud in life too, isn’t it?

In this week alone, I’ve loudly lamented the long lines at Sams, poor customer service at a local pharmacy, and lack of selection at a restaurant.

Just writing those out makes me seem totally superficial and ridiculous. But it’s true….I’ve seriously wasted valuable time and energy on this.

So now I’m going to take my own musical advice and practice playing soft.

Instead of approaching perceived injustice with laments, I’m going to try the opposite approach. After all, it’s not like I got anywhere with my indignance except spreading frustration to everyone around me.

And just like it takes time to develop the skills necessary to play soft, I’m sure that I will not be totally successful.

But I will practice.

I don’t expect perfection from my students, so I will try not to expect perfection from myself.

Here’s to a playing (and living) a dynamic life!