old post - music is a muscle

Since I've not posted in a couple of days (not because I've had nothing to say, just haven't stopped to type) I thought I'd post some more "old posts" that need to be archived... This one is from October 23, 2009. Yep - almost 2 years ago. :-)

I would like to comment, first, that I've actually thought back on this post (or at least the meaning behind it) many times lately, especially as I've grown as a vocalist. It's like the more I push myself the more I am able to do.

Anyway - here's the old pic and the old post...

I finally have my inbox under control. For the geeks among you, you might be interested to know that Snow Leopard has some issues with Apple Mail. For a time, I kept getting the same messages downloaded over and over and over and over and... yep - that’s how I felt too. :-)

Anyway - workorders and such are under control at work. Stress (at work anyway) is down somewhat. Things are getting back to the normal level of hecticity.

So - I’m in my inbox just now, working offline and looking through some things, when I see a note I wrote to myself on July 19th - “blog post - music is a muscle”

First, I’m waaaay behind on blog postings, but I’ve decided I’m NOT going to let that be a point of stress in my life. It ain’t worth it. :-)

Second, here’s what I wanted to say about this subject...

Playing music, like an instrument, is apparently much like using muscles in your body. If you don’t use them, they start to atrophy. When you do use them, they grow stronger and you can do even more with them. I experienced something like that at Summer Institute this year I believe...

When we went for our WTETA Picnic/Meeting in May, I took my guitar. Darbin brought his mandolin and Jason brought his bass. We played for a while after the meeting and had a good time, so I took my guitar with me to Summer Institute in July. Two different nights we played in the lobby of the hotel and one day we played during the day.

Now - how is this a muscle? The more I did that week, the more I COULD do. I was playing guitar, but I also played more banjo than I have in a long time and even played the standup bass on a couple of songs. I also felt I could do things that I normally would not be able to do. No, not be an overnight Chet Akins, but it felt natural doing things I would normally back off and say, “no thanks” to.

Bottom line - it felt great! :-)