Recently, I was forced to attend a family friend’s violin competition in
support of her hard work and accomplishments. I wasn’t necessarily close to
this family friend, who was about my age; therefore I didn’t feel inclined to
go. Unfortunately, my mother made me go to this 3-hour concert that was an hour
drive away. Being a committed swimmer who trains almost 7 times per week, I
understand the importance of repetition and commitment, but I didn’t feel that
this principle applied to music very much. I didn’t have the appreciation for
the difficulty to master a musical instrument. I felt that becoming an intense
athlete was much more difficult than mastering a piano or violin. It was once I
watched this stunning competition where I fully empathized with the amount of
preparation involved in these intensified competitions. Just like in swimming,
each competitor is willing to sacrifice his or her weekends, afternoons, and
social activities to be the very best. One after another these performances
astonished me with their sharp twisting sounds and gaily pitches. Just when I thought
someone should automatically be announced the winner; I was amazed with a
greater performance than the previous one. It was in this 3-hour concert where
I fully understood what it means to be a committed musician. While we enjoy the
journey towards tackling a new piece of music, and a tiring physical workout, we
look forward to dwelling on our accomplishments. We compete for the chance to
be #1. Music is just like a sport: repetition, repetition, and repetition. It
is the belief that practice is what sets you up for success.
This is a video of one of my family friend's performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDCuQEw34c
I love how you took something you didn't think you would enjoy and turned it into a wonderful experience. This motivates me to also put more effort into what I do as well. I too am an intense athlete in baseball and would initially have a similar view to you but this piece influences me to try new things and have an appreciation for things outside my comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteI personally found the music to be very interesting and also enjoyed it. It brought me to understand that certain things we do not feel we will like, we may enjoy. The lessons shown in this piece are very nice as well. Repetition is key to everything, that is why we practice so hard in choir class, so we can be perfect and amaze everyone at our concerts.
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