You can feel the strings under your fingers, pressing into the tips, pressing against you as you bend them to your will. Your hand is already molded around the neck, poised to change gracefully from shape to shape in line with almost un-thought desires. It turns out you don't need to see to play, your fingers know what they are doing, they will find their place on the strings, they will know how far to move. Your body moves of its own accord in rhythm with your soul, and the less you focus on what happens next, the better you can let go and let your fingers go about the business of playing. You hear the music in your head and you know exactly what has to come next and what could come next, shadows of possibilities refracting as if from a mirror, and you must choose one this time around. You could sink deeply into the bass, fishing out the warm notes which give the melody its depth; or, you spin off into the melody, carrying the weight of the tune--step lively!; or you could sing harmony, dancing around the melody, high or low, faster or slower, pausing on the third or the seventh or the sixth, counterpoint. The music spirals out of your fingers as if alive, spinning and twisting and rushing in a waterfall. And you bide your time, waiting for it to come around again, another path to be taken...
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963), "Music at Night", 1931
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It is magical that at some point music just flows out, and of course a lot of practice preceeds that . If it's good music or not is another question - but we have to settle that for ourselves. I can play "Whiskey before breakfast" all I want and that doesn't make it good, but if it satisfies me and doesn't bother other people, what's the harm? And one day, other people might enjoy it, and it's just a practice session.
Being in the groove is the issue - when I'm driving a race car at 135 mph, with the senses heightened, It's a rush to see things going by so fast and realize that you're ahead of the problems and still in control. On the other hand, nothing is more scary than going 25 mph in ice and snow and realizing that you can't see far enough ahead, or bringing a 15,000 pound sailboat into a dock at 3 mph and not being sure that you can stop in time....
It's all about judging the issues of the time, and addressing them appropriately.
Music teaches you structure, interactive success, and the value of individual brilliance. It can be, and often is, it's own reward.
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