Loosen Up

 

 


I play the violin

I like to take the violin  traveling with me wherever I go

I feel a little conspicuous

I feel like a traveling musician that is going to perform at a great concert hall. 

I am not. 

My violin is my traveling companion and we are still learning how to work together. The great mystery is how to work with the violin to make sounds that are actually pleasing to the ear. At one point, I became frustrated with not producing the sound that I wanted to hear. I went back to the basics and looked at a YouTube video that talked about to hold the bow.

The bow of the violin is an essential part of making the music. It can help you create long and smooth notes.

The bow of the violin is also essential part of making bad music. It can squeak and bounce and go places that you don't want it to go.

 The YouTube video basically said: "Loosen up". Don't grip your bow so tight like you are afraid that it will run away from you. 

 
When you keep your hand and wrist stiff like a stone statue, that is when things go wrong. That is when the bow gets scared of you and decides to veer off the string. That is when the bow gets antsy and starts bouncing around on the strings at the wrong times. That is when the bow gets distracted and decides to sound like a mouse instead of the note it is suppose to be playing. 

Loosen up. 

Instead of being a stone statue, let your fingers relax on the bow.

                                         

Let them take a little catnap and only be activated when needed. Don't do all the work, or else the bow will get bored. Don't be scared of the bow running away. If it does, correct it and keep going. Don't only think about getting it right but also have fun. The bow thinks like you. If you enjoy the music, the bow will as well.

Loosen up.

You don't have to be perfect.

You may not get it perfect the first time, or the second time, or the third time

Loosen up.

I think we can have that same relationship with people and the world around us as with a violinist and their bow.

Sometimes I find  myself gripping a specific circumstance too tightly. Sometimes it is friends, how I see myself, or expectations. But when I hold them tightly, like a statue holds its pose, that is when things go wrong.

A stiff bow in life...

....makes it look like the situation purposely ran away from my expectations and veered off on to new strings that I wasn't expecting. It makes it look like I "bounce around on the strings" in a different way that the world does. It makes it look like friends got distracted and moved away.

But perhaps that is not true.

Perhaps the thing that needs to be done is to:

Loosen up 

Perhaps a  relaxed bow in life...

...allows circumstances look different than I expected. Perhaps, it allows my unique notes to be added to the music. Perhaps it allows me to make mistakes in life and to correct mistakes. Perhaps it allows me to see the beauty of enjoying the friends I have, being sad when they leave and hear the lovely sound that can come from changing strings.

Perhaps a relaxed bow in life...

...allows us to listen to the beautiful sound that can made by playing both the hard sections and the easy sections of a song.

Loosen up.




I like to find stories in unlikely places and connect them with unlikely subjects. Here are stories and analogies that I see as I travel around the world.

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