Learning to Make Music as An Adult

                                            Playing my ukulele. I am firstly a piano student but have taken up the uke { self-teaching} as a secondary instrument. Photo by Brian 

Many women I know post about their children and grandchildren This is fine, but since I do not have either, I cannot join in the mom and grandma brag posts. Before anyone gets in my Kool-Aid and calls me " hateful", I admire parents-- and good parents are blessings. I have nothing against parents. {However, the over-commercialization of Mothers' Day is fodder for another essay} Mothers and fathers are essential for the survival of our species, because we cannot {yet} grow a complete human from one undifferentiated cell. No matter what people might say about me, I am not anti-mother. 

I have my own brag posts: I call them #Pianonotes . I'm sure people are already tired of them, and that is fine: Scroll on.

 Please understand that I came into this world with the aid of forceps', a tool that resembles kitchen tongs. 

My mom's doctor somehow thought that yanking a fragile human neonate from her mother's womb by her skull was a brilliant idea. Really-- I know the 1970's were a different time, but whomever dreamed up the idea of delivering human infants with kitchen tongs should have at least lost their medical license. 

I am one of the more fortunate people who entered this life in these circumstances, but my birth trauma did leave some permanent damage. 

I've been taking piano lessons for several months, and in doing so am realizing a lifelong dream of learning to play the piano.

Piano study has been good for me. My biggest challenge with studying piano is not learning the music. Since my hands are " clumsy" and my right and left body hemispheres do not communicate well {I do not drive nor ride a bicycle for this reason, it is not safe} physical coordination is hard for me. 

Anyway, back to music. Piano study is not only very good for me physically-- for the first time I WANT to do an activity that serves as " physical therapy" of sorts. Actually, the fact that I was born with clumsy hands would have been more of a reason to enroll me in piano lessons as a child.  But again, the brain science that was available to parents, teachers and doctors was in its infancy. 

As an adult music student, I am at a disadvantage, as adult brains are less " plastic" than the brains of young people. I overcome this with being naturally.... persistent {some say " stubborn," and they are not wrong} I need to work harder than a beginning piano student whose brain is still forming-- and deal with a neurodiverse brain. 

I think that my dedication and drive come from the fact that I am doing something-- making music-- that no one thought I could do. 

Will I be a virtuoso? No. I know this fact, my husband knows, and my teacher knows.  Music study for the sake of making music should be the norm: not every person is made to be a concert musician-- no matter how early they start their musical journey. 

Will music improve some neural pathways that have been damaged? Absolutely. 

Another aspect of music study that I did not count on is my increased self-confidence. Learning a new thing-- especially as an adult with some neurological challenges-- is empowering. One of the reasons that I chose to self-teach the ukulele is the confidence I have with learning to play the piano.  Fretted instruments are entirely different than the piano, but I can apply the same basic music theory to improve those neural pathways by using my hands and fingers in a different music-making way. I bought a beginning ukulele instruction book that has lessons with several popular tunes. 

I'm teaching myself, so the uke progress is slower. This is fine with me: I'm doing this for the sheer joy of making music. 

Piano is my first musical love, but I am also enjoying teaching myself the ukulele. Another aspect of learning the uke that I like is its portability. I cannot easily take my piano with me, but my concert-sized uke is extremely portable. Right now, I am perfecting some songs using the C, G7 and F chords to play for my family when we are in the North Carolina mountains for our hiking trip. 

I'm grateful for the ability to learn music at midlife. 

Yes, I will talk about it a lot. 

Shalom...

Sarah Beth McCarren 

Pentecost 2023

 

Telling Stories

                                             Because telling stories is important, here is a photo of me at a place that is VERY special to MY story: the mountains of Western North Carolina . Photo by Brian. 

                                      "I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community."

- Janet Mock, "Redefining Realness"

Whomever Janet Mock may be, she is correct. Storytelling is a lost art, and an art that is connected to our very humanness.

I am, by nature, a storyteller. My undergraduate major was journalism: professional storytelling. No matter wat you might have heard I did NOT major in journalism to avoid math Okay, that was an added bonus of my major field of study, as have dyscalculia and HATE math. I love words-- and words are powerful.

At church, I spent five wonderful program years serving the parish's youngest people in Godly Play {TM} a Christian education program that uses both sacred storytelling time and Montessori-based classroom techniques. I loved this work: preparing the stories each week was a spiritual practice for me--a practice that made me look at beloved Bible stories with a new lens.

As " People of the Book" our faith centers around stories that were passed down and can be traced back to our early Jewish ancestors in the Middle East.

As part of the EfM { Education for Ministry } program, students are required to share their " spiritual autobiography-- how they see where God acted in their life--each year during the four-year extended learning program out of The University of the South. This is hard work. Vulnerability is hard, but doing so in a safe environment allows for members of the seminar group to understand their classmates' perspectives. During my EfM journey-- in which I went through three churches over seven years { that is another story entirely} my story changed.

Stories are fluid.

My social media-- and the social media of others--can be a means to tell our personal stories. Since we are all human and--- thanks be to God-- different, our stories can {and will} make others scratch their heads in confusion. If we are not careful with the words we choose on social media, others can misconstrue our words and interpret them in a way that is not what we intend.

At the same time, each of us own our stories and should tell them as we see fit. I'll repeat: our stories belong to us and us alone. We choose how, when and to whom we tell parts of these stories. My blog is a means by which I share my story with the world. No one must read it{As far as I know, my words are not required reading for any college course.}

Other people's stories should be held in strict confidence. Not long ago someone blessed me with a part of their story that is hard for them to share. I thanked this person for trusting me with this information and assured them that it stays with me.

Tell your story as you see fit. Listen to others' stories without judgement. Don't gossip. Assume nothing.

We ALL are storytellers.

Amen.

Sarah Beth McCarren

May 20, 2023

 

Hiking as spiritual practice

                                             One of my favorite hiking photos of Brian and me. Grandfather Mountain, NC 

"Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman."

- Maya Angelou

 I love to hike. Brian and I spend a lot of time hiking around our Pensacola, Florida home. Our part of the state is home to several diverse biomes. We even have *** some*** elevation--Our house in town is located 101 feet above sea level. 

 I grew up in the ridge-and-valley Appalachian Mountains near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and most of my free time as a child were spent in the woods.   My first woodland playground was on " the path" -- which was on an empty lot that the neighbors graciously let neighborhood children claim as our own. Later it was exploring the rugged woodland paths on my godparents' property during my days off from working at their recreational park during summers of my teen years and very early adulthood. 

 

Let's face it, I am the embodiment of a Celtic wood nymph! 

One of the reasons why hiking appeals to me is the discovery of wonders of Creation along new trails. While hiking familiar spots, such as Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina, is also satisfying, there is a special sense of accomplishment that comes with A} discovering new hiking trails and B} conquering new trails. 

Hiking can be seen as a spiritual practice-- because venturing into the woods -- a wilderness-- takes trust. Hikers need to trust their hiking buddies, their shoes {very important to have sturdy and reliable footwear on hikes} their map and {or app} Hikers also need to be aware of the weather, be on the lookout for dangerous wildlife and poisonous plants and walk mindfully. 

Taking long, vigorous walks in the woods is a spiritual practice. Hikers are in the middle of God's beautiful Creation-- and {hopefully} slowing down enough to appreciate the surroundings. Additionally, trust is employed each time we modern humans venture into the woods. 

I'd choose walking in the woods or along the coast over the big-city indoor urban jungle any time.  I feel the most " Sarah Beth" when I'm outdoors because I am in the company of    the great " I Am". 

Happy Hiking, friends....

Sarah Beth McCarren 

May 11, 2023