Be Purposeful

It was a major comeuppance!

I took up learning to play the flute as an adult.  I was working in a junior high school at the time and the music teacher was coaching me.  She had taught me the basics but I was having trouble with making a clear sound and with finding exact pitch.  She listened to me for about 30 seconds then bludgeoned me with the words:

 “Don’t be such a wimp! Let me see you take a deep breath and blow that thing! Sound like you mean it!”

I was thoroughly chastened.  And to be honest, my feelings were a bit hurt.  I had been prepared for her to correct all sorts of periphery things – my stance, the way I held the flute, maybe even tell me the flute was faulty.  Instead she challenged me on the very core of making sound – be purposeful about it!  I learned that to make even the softest sound I must blow purposefully, though not strongly, across the mouthpiece.

That lesson was one I learned well.  That one statement of correction has profoundly affected my life.  In everything I do, or attempt, there it is - that benchmark!

BE PURPOSEFUL!

And so I reflect from time to time ...