Finishing
I was sitting in my office thinking about a few things and my mind drifted back to my tuba lessons and things my professor told me about playing and performing and other things that would be discussed during a lesson of that nature. I remember him saying “LaJuan, there are 3 parts to every note and 3 things that must happen in order to finish that note.” He went on to say “There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end.” He picked up his extremely nice tuba and he played a nice crisp note, I believe a middle Bb, and then put it back down. He looked me and he said “In order to finish a note you must understand all that needs to be done to complete the note.” He turned his chair so that he we were more side to side than face to face, and then picked up his pencil and began to draw an oval shape on the back side of a piece of music he’d just flipped over. When he finished he said “before you play a note, you have to prepare for it. You have to know what it sounds like; what it feels like; what valves to push; how much lip support; and all things involved in that note. Once you are prepared you go through the processes to start the note. Now you’ve gotten through the beginning and started the note. Now you have to sustain the note. This requires listening to yourself as you play;” he went on ”making small adjustments as you go. That’s the middle and easy part,” he said. ”The hardest part of the note is the end. You have to finish the note just as well as you started it. You have to know when it ends, and you have to put the same amount of effort into in order to make sound the inverse of the way you started it; just as an oval begins and ends,” he said pointing to the oval shape he’d just drawn.
Now I say this b/c it is a fantastic example of what we all need to do in life. We have to start, continue, and above all finish what we set you to do. It’s easy to start something. I started a diet or 2 in my life. I sustained for a while, but when it came to finishing, something came up, or I didn’t have the will to continue any further. Other projects as well, have had similar results, but lately I’ve made it a point to finish what I start no matter what. It’s just like playing a note. You have to plan it out, know where you are going and you have to start it. After you’ve started something you have to sustain it. Keep a good work ethic; never become complacent or satisfied with yourself part way through. And just as my good friend and associate said in a previous post, you have to finish. You have to reach down and go when everything else is telling you otherwise. You have to go when you don’t feel like it; you have to go when its not convenient to go; you have to go when its the last thing you wanna do; simply put you just have to go, and go until you finish. FINISHING; is the quintessential step in all that we do.
Be strong Be Courageous Be Empowered……Be Bold!!!!!
Ready to die, but willing to Live.