One more gem from yesterday’s Ryan Meehan piece, on the feeling of dread (followed by relief) as he shuffled through a packet of instruction materials covering musical proportions, flourishes, and motifs:
I am not a student of any substance in this music, I say to myself; I’m not even a musician. My trip here has been an imposition, a gesture of real arrogance. In deepening embarrassment, my eyes scan across the page to a phrase underlined in bold: “In practice, you don’t have to be too concerned with this.” Its placement seems like a pin to pop my ballooning panic, and with my relief comes a convulsion of laughter.
In practice, you don’t have to be too concerned with this. What a wonderful statement to accompany deep instructional information. Because that’s the whole trick, right? Supporting practice with study.