So, I guess I haven’t confessed this, yet, but here it is: I’m addicted to drawing portraits…
…and also to playing the cello.
I’ve played the cello since I was about 8 or 9, so going on 20 years, now. I don’t play professionally (as in, not as a career), but I do enjoy playing in my church’s orchestra, when the occasion arises. Today was one such day. Managed to snap a shot of my music stand and bow. Love pics of sheet music. Playing instruments provides a comfort, distraction, instrument of focus (pun fully intended), and outlet, and is by no means limited to the cello. I also dabble in violin, ocarina, viola, piano, mandolin, and bodrán (the traditional Irish hide drum that you hear in most traditional Irish music). I am nowhere near as good at these others, of course… but it is a comfort nonetheless. When I can lose myself in music for a few hours, the rest of the world and all its worries and cares just fade away and I am left as myself, distilled down to my purest and most honest state of being.
Do you play an instrument? Is it easy to lose yourself in the sound and feel of strings or brass vibrating beneath your fingertips, the notes cast from your voice? Have you ever considered trying, but never felt you had the skill? Because it is truly liberating…
