Easier Than Golf

After taking a brief hiatus from the world of music on my last blog, I thought I'd return with a little observation. Playing the violin, like golf, is a difficult endeavor but not nearly so diabolical and innumerably more rewarding.

For the most part I gave up golf at the onset of my violin making avocation. Not a day too soon I must add. Back when I played a fair amount, I had golfing buddies who were entirely into competing against other players. As many of you may know, golf has a strange handicap system that allows players of all skill levels to compete against each other. You can be a horrible golfer but regularly beat great golfers because of the number of strokes thrown your way. So often these guys would get really fired up when they shot 1000 for 9 holes because after deducting 961 shots because of their handicap they "beat" their competitor who shot a respectable 40. Where was this system when I use to run marathons? Imagine getting a ten mile head start at the Boston Marathon, beating some truly great runners by a whisker and whooping it up at the local pub cause you just "won" a really big race.

When I played golf I didn't enjoy competing much. At least not against other players. It was always me against the course, trying each day to play better than the day before. Guess who won most of the time? Guess who won 99 times out of 100? the #*#* golf course. I really worked hard at the game too but despite my efforts there was very little improvement or satisfaction. Frustration, well if that was the goal then I was better than Tiger Woods! Endless supply of that.

Playing the violin is almost entirely different than golf other than one shared aspect. They both are incredibly difficult to master but that is where the comparisons end. The violin is rewarding and enjoyable almost every single day I play and many days it is rapturous. Often improvements carry over from one day to the next. As long as I'm not exhausted (from other activities) when I begin playing I can almost always count on playing some pieces or exercises well with good tone and a fair amount of expression. Lately each day seems better than the one before with a tone production quite intoxicating. Sometimes I'm playing along (alone I might add) and all of a sudden I've got this huge smile on my face from the beautiful sounds coming from the instrument.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying making music is an amazingly sensuous and incredibly rewarding endeavor. Perhaps the violin is not for everyone but given the diversity of instruments out there I highly recommend some form of music playing for all people. Especially the young and young at heart.

Add one last observation: Although I am no less passionate about spiritual and religious matters, I suspect this blog might solicit a little more response than the previous one. We'll see.