Silence 

The sun is shining today. No chance of rain until later this week. Spring has surely sprung and allergies are attacking me. Which means my voice isn't 100%, so I can't work on my set list full out for weekend shows.  

I was reading a blog by a fellow musician about exploring the resistance to practicing and this idea of silence. I think I read it ten times or so...even shared it on my social media pages. It was intriguing.  

Because I'm not going to sing with my throat acting up, I sat with my violin this morning. I tried to be extremely aware of the silence around me and that lies inside my beautiful violin. Where I truly love to sing, I'm an instrumentalist first and foremost. I began to play a Irish tune that I haven't played in years...I wondered where that came from. Was it from sitting in silence for a few moments? From that point on, tunes I hadn't practiced nor performed since my high school years came flooding back to me and my muscle memory kicked in. Quite an odd sensation-so much so, I'm writing about it.  

My brain has a tendency to work incredibly fast and sometimes I can't slow down. Sitting in silence with my fiddle early this morning helped me slow everything down.  

Where we, as musicians, often build up a resistance to practice, and the more we do it, the less we want to pick up and play our instruments---actually practicing resisting for a few moments before and while you are practicing, may be helpful for you as it was for me.  

I often sit in a low lit room with my song writing notebook and my guitar. In silence. Listening to whatever noises may come--the birds chirping, the wind howling, the house settling.... Now, I wonder why I never took the time to do that with my violin.  

Through the darkness-comes light.  

Through listening-comes enlightenment. 

Through working with others-comes unexpected joys and awareness.  

Through silence-comes inspiration. 

With my hot tea and local honey, I'll mange to get through the day---wondering about silence and music, and how they go together.  

Fiddle on my friends! 

Lacie