In a House of Music

I am so glad that Cheryl is playing her cello again. It has shifted the dynamic in our house again, for the better.

I'm not a musician myself, but I love hanging around musicians. They have access to a world that I can't reach. My mother tried to get me into piano lessons as a youngster, but I just did not have the inclination for making music back then. I still don't, but I appreciate those who can.

We may live in an age of digitally perfect recordings, but live music will always have a quality that no technology can match.


New Orchestra Outfit
Originally uploaded by Allan & Cheryl

The discipline required is one of those things that inspires me. Cheryl only resumed playing a month or two ago, but her dedication has started to pay off already. She will be 2nd stand* in the cello section at the next concert her orchestra plays. I have friends who also play instruments and you should see their faces when I tell them that she has been logging a consistent hour of practice a day.

I also enjoy that hour or so of calm where Cheryl sits down and works on her exercises and performance pieces. She seems to think that it must be exceedingly boring to listen as she saws her way through a difficult technical excercise, but I really don't think it any different than looking through a painter's sketchbooks. Sometimes you gain a far greater appreciation of the underlying structure when you see or hear the work in progress, than if you were only presented with the final product.

* I have to mention Cheryl's standard disclaimer that the level of musical competition in a community orchestra is just not the same as you would find in a school or professional outfit. People who play in community orchestras tend to be those folks who gave up chasing the fame, glory, and pay of a professional career - and now play for the fun of it. They prefer to have someone else be the first chair so they can enjoy the relative obscurity of the back rows - away from the conductor's attentive eyes and ears.