For Wilshire Baptist Church
Hard things can be fun when you break through and learn how to do them. They’re even more fun when you learn how to do them with other people.
As the Wilshire Winds have been preparing for our annual summer concert on Sunday evening, there have been parts of the music that have been kicking my back side. Not entire pieces of music from start to finish, but in every piece of music we’re playing there is at least one section or even just a measure or two that challenges me to the point of total frustration. It might be a progression of notes that are difficult to finger, a rhythm that is hard to navigate or a tempo so fast I just can’t move my fingers, tongue or even my brain fast enough. And believe me when I say age plays a big part in all of that. I’m just not as physically or mentally nimble as I once was.
My practice regimen in recent days has me focusing on those moments of difficulty so they won’t be moments of terror on concert night. I’ve played too many times in the past when I haven’t practiced enough and I’ve begun to worry as those difficult moments approach. I’ve even been distracted through the easier, enjoyable sections because I’ve known the hard part is coming. That’s no way to be.
So, I’ve been working on those hard segments, and as I get them under control they’re actually becoming fun. And even more so when the band works together on the hard parts. We do that in rehearsal each week and I know my bandmates are working on those hard parts at home too. We’re doing it because we want to play well for the audience, but we also enjoy that feeling of pride, accomplishment and even joy when we can look back and know we played it well.
It’s a great feeling and one I’ve felt in other settings where the work was hard but the outcome was worth the struggle and attention to details. Sometimes it’s been actual work, such as a complicated publishing project, working into the wee hours of the morning on election night at a newspaper, or even mending long stretches of barbed wire fence in the searing heat on a New Mexico ranch. Sometimes it’s been recreational, like cycling from Waco to Dallas with my buddy Ken, or hiking the Window trail at Big Bend with LeAnn. Or even working through a health issue such as cancer with day after day of treatments. In all those cases, what I remember now more than the actual work is the camaraderie and friendship forged as we found the rhythm of getting the work done together.
So, in these next few days as the Winds concert approaches, I’ll keep wood-shedding those difficult note changes and complex rhythms so fear will turn to fun and dread will become joy. And best of all, notes on a page will become music.