This past weekend, we were privileged to go to the valley and attend the Arizona Allstate Performance. This was for the Junior High School students who had competed and made Allstate. Mikayla made it to 6th chair for the cello. What a wonderful opportunity for her! She was able to play with an Orchestra that was amazing.
These kids, young as they were, were the best that I have ever heard. It was a beautiful evening, and I was so grateful that we were able to go and listen to them perform.
It has taken so much time and effort on her part to be able to participate in this. The kids had to compete and go to the City of Payson to play. They received their music a month ago and had to practice it daily so that they would sound well. They had to be willing to work hard to do what needed to be done.
Then, after all the preliminary work was finished, they went down to the valley and spent an entire day practicing and following a conductor that they had never worked with before. It was all a challenge to them.
I can't tell you how many times I have listened to Kayla play these songs, or how many times she has chosen to go up to her room to work on them instead of reading a book or watching TV. I can't even begin to explain how frustrated she was with the music, or how she thought she was never going to get it, or how she was afraid they would kick her out because she was terrible.
But she kept practicing. She kept trying. She kept going forward in her studies. When she went down to the valley, she placed sixth out of all the cellos. That is quite an honor for a young woman who had never been to Allstate before and who was so afraid of doing badly.
None of us ever know how things are going to turn out in our lives. We all make mistakes, occasionally play wrong notes and sometimes feel like complete and total failures. We are sure that we can't continue or that we have lost all hope.
If we just keep going forward, one step at a time, one note at a time, one moment at a time, soon will will find our own symphony. Our own concert. Our own peace.
"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you;
they're supposed to help you discover who you are."
Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late.
William Shakespeare
I have found that you can take a woman out of the busy city, but you can't take the busy out of that same woman! (I hope that makes sense). I moved here and got involved in all the things that I have always wanted to do, (but never had the time for). I am an EMT at night, work all day as a Post Master, attend school functions, Sing in the Choir, help the kids with homework, blog, write, and even manage to travel when my boss needs me to do something extra for her. How do I do that, you ask? I am NOT and never have been super woman. I am someone who uses every moment of time in my day. I don't relax too well, it is something I am working on and I think we might even have one picture of me in a hammock (I know that I have seen it somewhere!). I actually manage to do many of the things I do by using the time managment strategies that I learned in my work place. I used to help teach a "7 habits" class. If you don't know what that is, or have never read the books, I recomend that you try and find them on ebay (or at your local bookstore) and go through them. They are by Stephen R. Covey. I have read most of his books and love them!
My very favorite visual aid with that class goes like this-
Start with a bucket, some big rocks enough to fill it, some small stones, some sand and water. Put the big rocks in the bucket - is it full? Put the small stones in around the big rocks - is it full? Put the sand in and give it a shake - is it full? Put the water in. Now it's full. The point is: unless you put the big rocks in first, you won't get them in at all.
The big rocks represent your big issues, the things that are most important to you above anything else, the smaller rocks represent those issues that are still important, but not the most important, and the sand and water represent the inevitable issues that fill up your day and take up your time. (This can be things like telephone, email, ect.) If you start out by putting in the water and sand, you will never get the big rocks into the bucket. Try it! You will be amazed that trying to put everything in the bucket backwards does not work! We used to use all the amounts pre-measured and use the same big rocks for both examples. In the one bucket we would put in the water and the sand and than the small rocks and than the big ones. The big rocks would never fit. They would be sticking out all over the top, or they would fall out of the bucket. Than, we would dump out everything and take the same bucket and put the big rocks in first. Than, the smaller rocks, than the sand, than the water. It is a great object lesson and I have found it to be true in my life. In other words: Plan time-slots for your big issues before anything else, or the inevitable sand and water issues will fill up your days and you won't fit the big issues in (a big issue doesn't necessarily have to be a work task - it could be your child's sports, orchestra, concert, or even a holiday). I have learned that we can all make choices. We can choose our big rocks. It is up to you to decide which issues in your life are your big rocks. Put those on the calendar first and than plan the rest of the month (or week, or day) around them. I have found myself accomplishing so much more since I started putting the things that matter most ahead of all the ones that matter least. At least this way, I make it to most of the things that I need to be attending. You really don't have to let the calendar run your life. I only have the things on the calendar that I really have to accomplish. That keeps me from forgetting. Having a calendar doesn't tie you down. It gives you freedom to plan and make sure you can do the things you have committeed to doing.
I once heard a speaker say, "Ask yourself, what comes first, the compass or the clock? Before you can truly manage the clock, (time), it is important to know where you are going, what your priorities are, in which direction you are headed (the compass). Where you are headed is always more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what’s urgent, learn to focus on what is really important".
We are a very musical family. I have loved music all my life and never was able to learn an instrument. My abilities have all been focused on my singing and I have been able to participate quite often in activities with music. Sometimes I sing solos, and sometimes, I sing with my children. I think I gave all my older children nightmares when it came to singing.
I have always sang to them. From the time they were very small they have heard my voice raised in song. Most of them loved it, until they got to an age where I asked them to sing with me. I would gather the six oldest ones together, practice for several days and than have them perform during church or an activity or a meeting. They would all fight me on the practice time.
To start with, three of them were boys and they just had better things to do than go to someone's house and stand around a piano. Everyone of them can tell you about the times that they had to sing. But, much harder than the singing, was all the time spent practicing in order to sound good together. We have spent hours and hours as a family and individually, working on our music.
All of the children have spent time playing musical instruments as well as singing together. Each instrument has required hours of practice before the child was able to play it well. Practice is essential in order to play well enough for people to be glad they came to hear you!
The three youngest girls are no exception to the family music program. Miracle plays the flute, Kayla, the Cello and Anya isn't old enough yet to start her instrument, but she says she wants to play the violin. In addition to the instruments, they all sing. They have been singing with me in church since they were quite small. I love to sing with them. They're voices are so clear and sweet. Not only are they singing, (when mom tells them they have to), but I have put them each in piano every week. The youngest just turned nine, the other two are eleven and thirteen respectively.
Now, you should probably know that up until this point, playing music has been as bad as a trip to the dentist for these girls! It is not just the lesson itself, but the added practicing every day that makes it so not fun! It has taken me a year to really get them into a routine for the practicing. Finally, something has clicked into place over the past month. All of a sudden, they each have something they are working on that sounds great when they play it! For the first time, I don't have to beg, plead, and coerce them into a practice session. They are fighting over whose turn it is to sit at the piano! They are enjoying the moment when their fingers manage to play the notes that are written on the page. The are finding joy in the journey of learning.
Now, you might wonder why I am spending so much time on music (besides the fact that I love it!). Actually, music or more especially the learning of music, is a lot like this life we are living. If we want to be good at anything, we have to practice. If we want to play sports, we have to practice, if we want to be good drivers, we have to practice, if we want to be good speakers, we have to practice, if we want to understand the scriptures, we have to practice.
The 'practice makes perfect' motto can apply to literally every part of our lives, in the gospel and out of it. If we want to be good teachers, we need to practice! We can't pick something up and than ask Heavenly Father to do all the work. We are here to learn and grow. Sometimes, I think we expect way too much of ourselves! We are like my children who struggle with music for a long time until suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, it makes a joyful noise. But we want it right now! We want it without the struggle, without the pain, without the trial. We want it without the practice!
There is the story of a concert pianist that played for many people all over the world. After one of his concerts, a woman came up to him and said,"Sir, I don't know how you do that! I would give half my life to sound like you!" "Madam", the gentle musician said, "That is exactly what I have done".
Never forget that you Heavenly Father placed you here so that you could learn and grow. He placed you here so that you could become who He needs you to be.
"Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." Martha Graham
"A day will never be anymore than what you make of it. Practice being a "doer"! -- Josh S. Hinds
We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to sing by practicing singing or to learn to play piano by practicing piano, or to learn to live by practicing living. The principles are the same. My you continue to find joy in your journey through this life as you practice and learn.
