The rehearsal room at the community arts centre smelled of winter boots and varnish. Fluorescent lights hummed. Joe, nineteen and on fire, attacked a run of notes like enemies on a firing range. Every sound was fast and unapologetic. Across the room sat Moira. She watched with patience that came from years of letting people exhaust themselves before saying anything. Finally he stopped, she nodded at the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgain?\u201d he asked. \u201cSlower? Cleaner?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she said. \u201cSit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou think music lives in your fingers,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the fingers only deliver the message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe frowned. \u201cMy technique\u2019s bad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour technique is fine,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce upon a time,\u201d Moira continued, \u201cI thought I could shortcut my way to greatness. Practise harder than everyone else. Louder, faster. Music was a mountain you climb by sheer stubbornness. But that isn’t what mountains care about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe shifted, feeling the conversation drift into territory he had not signed up for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had a teacher then,\u201d she said. \u201cA quiet man. He spoke in riddles. He said \u2018A great musician is just a great person with an instrument.\u2019<\/em> I thought he was dodging my questions. I wanted scales; he gave philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe laughed in a small way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was right,\u201d she said. \u201cGreatness doesn\u2019t comes from what kind of person you are when no one\u2019s listening.\u201d She tapped her chest. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have room in here, neither does the music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe looked at his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo what do I need?\u201d he asked cautiously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYo become someone the music trusts,\u201d Moira said. \u201cWho won\u2019t use it to win arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moira moved to the window where outside, the snowfall turned streetlights into halos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTry something,\u201d she said without looking back. \u201cPut the instrument down for a day. Help someone who can\u2019t repay you. Apologize to someone you\u2019ve avoided. Listen to someone whose voice you usually talk over. Then come back and play the same passage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe nodded, but he didn\u2019t fully understand. He changed teachers. Later obtained a job at SOCAN in member services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The rehearsal room at the community arts centre smelled of winter boots and varnish. Fluorescent lights hummed. Joe, nineteen and on fire, attacked a run of notes like enemies on […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-9333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-tales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}