I like nice…

There is a popular idiom that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, roughly meaning that the more you know someone, the more faults you find in them or the more things you find to dislike about them. I’m fairly sure that in a lot of relationships, this is the case.  Not if you don’t let it though!

In my morning walk to work, I was idly thinking this over, and as I’d been playing my soprano sax for an hour or so this morning, I realised that there was some parallels to this idiom and playing a musical instrument. Imagine you’ve wanted to play an instrument, and you finally get one to play. It’s shiny, complex, fantastically interesting and you read everything about it – playing it for hours a day. I guess this would be a new relationship. You practice scales and arpeggios, even though essentially they’re quite boring. Eventually the relationship either works, or it doesn’t. The relationship with your instrument is over and you’re left with memories and a peculiar shaped box in the loft… Either you lost interest, or didn’t put enough work into it.

Putting in the effort, time and care to play something is worth it though. There is a point at which you transcend just playing an instrument, to being able to express yourself and your emotions through the instrument. You’ve put all the ground work in, you’re dedicated to the instrument and you find that the effort you put into it rewards you with the most amazing way of expressing who you are, and expressing your instrument too… You can get lost in the magic and moment of just playing it, people listening to the music you’re playing are affected. They feel it too, albeit in a passive way. That feeling of familiarity you will gain, doesn’t breed contempt, it allows you to express yourself! It’s a familiarity that you understand, but you’ll never stop enhancing.

Personally, I favour playing different instruments, although this in itself takes more effort. You must be able to give each instrument time and focus. You need to be more dilligent. Although theory learned by playing one instrument is transferrable to other instruments, in much the same way as things you learn in relationships.

So, focus on the instrument or instruments you choose, study hard, practice, don’t become lazy, and let the music play!