Still learning

I remember when I was a kid, practicing my violin was not always something I wanted to do. I wish I knew then what I know now. When you are young, you want instant results, not small improvement over a long period of time. I was impatient and restless. Now, at age 55, I see things much differently. I recognize and appreciate the beauty of practice. I am not in a hurry anymore. I love slowing difficult passages down to a crawl to look inside them...to figure them out.Taking my time feels good. And it still works.
I have experienced this new appreciation most recently while practicing the guitar. I play the guitar, yes, but I have not had any formal training and am completely self-taught. I don't consider myself a guitarist at all, but I enjoy it immensely. I borrowed an electric guitar from my friend Ben the other day and set about trying to learn some riffs that I admired, but I knew were out my reach. I embraced the idea of playing them slowly, over and over. Little by little I gained confidence and started to master these riffs. I learned to play them well enough to record and share with my Facebook friends. This tried and true regiment really works...even for me in my middle years. Take my time. Enjoy the work. Trust the process. I didn't see that as a kid. I practiced my violin. I got pretty good. I still play. It is a joy...a gift. And I am better now than ever. Wow.

https://www.facebook.com/tim.hazlett.9/videos/10222400968155481/

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The COVID-19 Pandemic continues. Life has changed. The world has changed. But it is not the first time in history that a pandemic has changed the course of history. Here is an excellent article about how an epidemic of Yellow Fever led to the United States's acquisition of the Louisiana Territory.

https://helenair.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/yellow-fever-and-the-louisiana-purchase/article_eda1c5b3-f498-5517-a72c-0194957494e4.html

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The Heritage Philharmonic was scheduled to play our Spring Concert on March 15 at Helzberg Hall here in Kansas City. This was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We had hoped to reschedule the concert for October, but that remains to be seen. In the meantime, we had to turn our music in last week because much of it is rented and needed to be returned. I was very sad making the drive to return it to our music librarian. So much practice and rehearsal...and no chance to play it in a performance.

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I have given up watching TV news, and I don't read much news anymore either. I listen to music...more than ever. My latest listening project has been listening to the First or Only Symphony of composers:

Philip Glass Symphony no 1
Edward Elgar Symphony no 1
Joachim Raff Symphony no 1
Howard Hanson Symphony no 1
Igor Stravinsky Symphony no 1
Charles Gounod Symphony no 1
Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphony no 1
Peter Tchaikovsky Symphony no 1
Gustav Mahler Symphony no 1
Johannes Brahms Symphony no 1
Franz Liszt Faust Symphony
Samuel Barber Symphony no 1
Georges Bizet Symphony in C major
Felix Mendelssohn Symphony no
Anton Bruckner Symphony no 1
Charles Ives Symphony no 1
Leonard Bernstein Symphony no 1
Edvard Grieg Symphony in C minor
William Walton Symphony no 1
Carl Nielsen Symphony no 1
Franz Schubert Symphony no 1
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony no 1
Robert Schumann Symphony no 1
Camille Saint-Saens Symphony no 1
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Symphony no 1
Jean Sibelius Symphony no 1
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony no 1

I am still immersed in no 1's....I will update later. But there is something wonderful about a First.