Hi there!
It has been a minute since we have touched base…. Another semester is officially wrapped up, and I was surprised at how busy it kept me! One major accomplishment was the completion of my first master’s recital. It was about an hour long, with the majority of pieces performed from memory; only one piece—the contemporary piece—could be performed with the score.
I bring this up not to pat myself on the back, but to note that when I first found out about this requirement roughly a year ago, it seemed nearly impossible. Memorizing five substantial works and performing them for an audience that contains a supervisory committee of multiple professors? Yikes! This was a mountain that seemed pretty steep.
Maybe you have heard the analogy of the bricks. Rather than focusing on how many bricks are needed to construct a wall and how much time/work that will be, one focuses simply on one brick at a time. Before you know it, several bricks are put together, and the structure begins to come into being. The task seems less monumental that way.
Approaching this recital was very much the same way of thinking. Focusing on one piece at a time during practice and what the specific goal was for that day: line by line, page by page, etc. Before I knew it, I was playing each piece by memory. That’s not to say it was always easy—sometimes the pressure would get to me and my mentor would need to remind me to relax! There were plenty of ups and downs during the process.
Whether you are a musician or not, surely you relate to this principle. Some tasks seem almost too great, but you start chipping away at it little by little while enduring setbacks, disappointments, frustration, and discouragement—in addition to small victories—along the way (which makes it all the more important to have a good support network/mentors to have your back). Refusing to give up results in the ultimate achievement of your goal, and, in a way, you can’t believe you actually did it!
As we look towards 2024, may we continue working, achieving, and supporting each other. Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for being here!