Rather than celebrating what has become the "traditional" birthday of a blog, I thought I'd take this opportunity to celebrate my 364th post. I could wait until tomorrow, or for the post that I will make after this (my 365th), but I'm not sure that I will have the same generous thoughts tomorrow that I have today, since I have to enter the "real world" of teaching tomorrow.
I feel very proud to be able to participate in the musical blogosphere. I started this blog kind of reluctantly. My husband Michael, who keeps a magnificent blog, encouraged me to start it, and I rationalized the whole thing by thinking of it as a "place" to "put" various articles that I had written over the years that needed to find a safe home, far away from editors who threatened to edit the life out of them. I was (and still am) surprised to find that there are people who find reading about my experiences donning and doffing my different musical hats helpful in their own journeys to and through what I still actually think of as "serious music."
The music I'm talking about can be seriously enjoyable, seriously mind-expanding, seriously spiritual (for whatever spirit moves you), seriously difficult, seriously challenging, and even seriously honest, especially when it is evaluated. It can be seriously annoying, seriously pretentious, and even seriously dull. It can be seriously out of tune, seriously repetitive, or, in the case of this list, seriously long-winded.
Even when I am having fun I am a serious person, and I appreciate it when I am taken seriously. Being part of the musical blogosphere has given me the chance to learn that there are people in the musical world outside of my very small community who take what I think and what I write seriously.
So this is just a word of thanks to everybody who happens across this post, everyone who has commented on posts I have made, and especially everyone who has encouraged a sense of musical community among serious musicians and serious music lovers who are looking for one. We are a tiny part of the world's population. Those of us who play instruments or train our voices to sing are an even smaller part. Those of us who practice daily are an even smaller subgroup. Those of us who write music are part of an even smaller group, but we are, as the musical blogosphere has helped me to realize, a mighty one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Happy Blogoversary! Being able to read about the impressions and experiences of yours and so many other musicians has been a great motivator for me to keep practicing (and to keep on writing.)
Yay, Elaine! Keep telling it like it is.
Happy Blog Birthday! I always read, even when I don't comment. Thanks for your insights and passion.
Post a Comment