My Space to " Be"

                                                      My " Music Room" 

Vacations are wonderful, and I am grateful for the opportunity to get away for a few days. 

For many reasons, I am glad to be home.  One of the biggest things that I missed when we were away is my " music room" and my piano. 

Since taking the piano on a road trip to the mountains is impractical, I packed my ukulele and the instruction book from which I am working. 

One of the biggest reasons why I am glad to be home is that I've missed my daily discipline of working on the piano. I spend half an hour each morning working on assignments that my teacher gives me. If i have time in the evening, I enjoy playing pieces that I've already learned. 

Since taking the piano on a road trip to the mountains is impractical, I packed my ukulele and the instruction book from which I am working. 

Making music daily is physical, emotional, and cognitive therapy for me. Currently my assignment is to build strength in my finger muscles, my teacher has me doing five-finger drills up and down the piano-- using both hands at the same time! {oy, vey} 

Today I went to the music room and played my assigned drills. My fingers felt a wee bit stiff from their time away from the daily strength training, but I still completed the drills that are assigned for me. 

When I was on vacation, I played my ukulele daily {and probably drove my family " around the bend" by playing the same songs again and again. Playing a fretted instrument works the hands differently than piano work and is not the same cognitive workout that working at the piano is for me. 

Yet music making is joy-full for me, and a way which I meditate and pray. Whether it is me and my uke or me and my piano, daily music-making is essential to my total health. 

It is also essential that I have my own space, my " room of her own". Vacations are wonderful, but I am at my best when I am secure in my surroundings. I'm grateful that Brian gave me the physical space to have a " music room" . I struggle with a lot of depressive episodes, as well as some few & fa between} manic episodes, and having that safe sanctuary in my home helps me stay or get centered. 

"Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head when you play music" ~Dave Grohl 

Amen and amen again. 

I'm safe in my music room: it is just me, the piano and my " shit".  And as I play, the " shit" evaporates. 

Playing music-- even simple piano drills- makes me healthier and whole. 

~Sarah Beth McCarren