A Part of Society

November 21, 2010 at 2:29 PM

I was out ice-skating yesterday with 3 of my good friends. Whilst I was there, several accomplished ice-skaters were whizzing around, showing off their tricks, whilst I clung to the side of the rink struggling just to try and steady myself! "These people make it look so easy!" I said to my friend, starting to feel slightly disheartened at my inability to skate. My friend looked at me and simply replied with "You make the violin look easy."

This simple statement started to make me think. As I looked around at the many people at the rink, I wondered how many were musicians. I wondered how many of these strangers had a particular skill or hobby they work on every day. I realised that everyone has different skills, and everyone feels proud of them.

I don't know about you, but when I walk through a town and look around at everyone walking past, I feel proud that I am a violinist. Most of these people probably won't see me, have never seen me, will not have heard of me, and probably won't hear of me. They will never talk to me or find out what my particular skill is. And I will never talk to them and find out what theirs is either.

Every person has a skill or talent, and a motivation to use that skill or talent. It is what makes society run like clockwork. Without the builders, there would be no shelter. Without the farmers, there would be no grain. Without the artists, there would be no art. And without the musicians there would be no music.

We are musicians, and we go out into society and we are normal people, only with a very special skill. Us as violinists should be proud of ourselves. We should go out and hold our heads up high. We might not get the attention of people we don't know, but in our own quiet way we can work to create music, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else around us.

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 5:19 PM

That's so true and no need to be good to go in an old folks home or play in a normal student gig to make people happy. They maybe will be more happy to hear easy things they know than Paganini... (sorry if this presumes old folks don't know Paganini... it's just as example...)

Not to forget that people who don't do something think that the others who do that thing are so good... (these skaters may not be that adavanced but for you, they seemed so good...) That's like when I play the easiest Irish and Russian dance I have for non-musician people at home... They like it more and are more impressed than if I try to play less perfect more technical stuff I work on at my lessons.

Thanks for reminding us of this!

Have a nice day

Anne-Marie

From Anna Meyer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 1:35 PM

You are very right Eloise. Us violinists should be very proud indeed of being violinists. I do consider it a bit of a pride to drag my violin around town with me and that shows that yes I am dedicated to the crazy art of being a violinist and I like it.

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A Part of Society

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