August Rush

I was fortunate enough to see this movie on my flight out to Vancouver today. It gave me a profound appreciation for the craft and true admiration for those that have the gift to really understand its magic. For someone who doesn’t have an innate ability nor a natural ear for music I have attempted to give it a try after failing miserably in my youth. Now I play the cello and I have a renewed strength and passion for an art that doesn’t come so easily to me. Initially it was a mid-life crisis approach to add some meaning and purpose in my life. And now it has given me a need to start feeling, not only hearing, the sounds as they interplay with the rhythms and strokes of the bow. I turn to it as a necessity and a retreat when nothing else provides this outlet for release. I’ve been taught to listen to the note and correct it as I play as opposed to playing the note and assume the position on the string has made it correct. The attached youtube video encapsulates this awe I’ve felt just watching it….now for probably the 20th time. For years I’ve never really understood nor really appreciated the composition of a rhapsody or sonata, the myriad and dance of each instrument as it weaves itself among the rest, faithfully fulling its role in the song. For the first time I’ve closed my eyes and opened my ears when I play and for me this has made all the difference.