Tag: tale

Tale of a violin

Few years ago there was quite a bit going on at work. With my restless mind worrying about projects and multiple thoughts/ideas always running in the background calm of the mind was proving to be elusive. Tossing and turning in bed at night wasn’t helping get a good sleep either. So, in an effort to calm my mind, wife suggested I learn to play the violin. The reasoning was simple: I like good music and the violin is my favorite instrument. When played well the melodious sound from that instrument has a soothing, calming effect and can move one to tears. In theory if I learned to play the instrument, practiced diligently and with focus it would calm me down and the effort would tire me enough to get sound sleep at night. Rented a violin from a local music shop around Christmas time. We had a nice violin teacher in the community where we live who is a family friend too. First class was awesome! I exceeded expectations and the sound of my playing came out confident and clear. Weekly once I had violin class. One month passed and everything went swimmingly. I decided I should go all in and bought a violin. The hard part part started shortly after that 😀 Nothing comes easy without practice. I would not practice entire week and just an hour or two before my class try to play the instrument just enough to progress further. With age learning gets slowed down and it’s difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. In my class too I would discuss music more than play the violin. Even when I tried to practice a bit was finding it difficult to get the technique right. Suffice it to say after 3 months I was still as good as new 🙂 Teacher was of course very patient and encouraging. I was getting impatient with my slow learning.
Spring arrived. One evening, to beat the rain, I decided to use the weed whacker to get rid of some wild growth in the backyard. Absentmindedly I ended up whacking my index finger which required 5-6 stitches. A bit more deeper and I could have sliced the top of my finger. Very painful but perfect excuse to stop learning 😉 The violin lay gathering dust unused and shedding tears 😦 Few months later my wife decided to learn. She practices regularly and diligently and finds happiness doing that. Of course her learning is a bit slow which is to be expected when you start late and have many other things going on. I am glad she is enjoying it. My finger has healed since and the violin has healed too from my abuses and now sports a happy look 🙂
All things considered it wasn’t a bad experience at all. I learned a few life lessons that could be useful: Having good taste doesn’t mean having good skill. Nothing comes easy, all the effortless ease one sees/hears is a result of ceaseless practice. And main lesson: If you want to do something start early, learning will be faster and mistakes won’t be very frustrating