And now I may never get her back in her room. But is that really so bad?
One day while working out I came to some songs on my iPod that suddenly threw open the door to my inner child’s room and she came charging out. The music is a live version of an LP that I had in my teen years and the songs are songs I really liked then, and, while I have heard them since I was a teen I guess I just forgot how much I like them. Until this one day. They just sort of came out of the player and smacked me in the face and said, “Hey! Wake up! You love this stuff. It’s not too late.”
And then my little inner child just came charging out of her room. Sort of like when a kid is so excited to see a person and they run from the house or wherever so fast and with so much enthusiasm and fly into the arms of the person that is coming up the walk, and if the person isn’t ready for it, when the child gets to them they can be hit with so much energy that they a bowled over.
I am already excited about changes coming up in my life and when my little inner child came running through that door, she just added even more happiness and excitement to things for me. She is so happy to be able to come out and play.
Do you know what it turns out my inner child likes to play most? Apparently, I didn’t. I had thought she just liked to do a lot of different things. I mean she really likes drawing and is pretty good at it and gets compliments and all that. She likes to read. She likes to do things with her hands, like build things or fix things and such. Over the years, I’ve given her art stuff, and tools, and books, and toys, and games and I don’t remember what all else. They would make her quiet for a while, I thought they were making her happy, but no, just quiet. Like when a parent buys the screaming child in the store that toy that they only really want just to want it, and the parent is only really buying it so the kid will shut up instead of taking the time to really figure out what is going on and what the child really wants. As it turns out, my inner child really, really, loves music. She likes to listen to it, sing along with it, play it, hang out in places where it’s sold and played, she likes to buy it and watch it and talk about it.
In letting this child out to play I decided I was going to go learn to play one of these songs that had struck me and that quite honestly I have wanted to be able to play since I was a teen. (Trust me that was a long time ago.) So off to the music store I went in search of music for it. I found the music and even someone who could play it and they explained some key parts of it. That was incredibly helpful. I play guitar and this song has a rhythm that has given me a bit of trouble and it gave me some insight into not just this one song but also another song by the same group.
I have been working on learning this song over this past month. First I learned the notes to the intro and then into the chords. And as I would go along and get one part down and then realize that I could play that bit and then work on the next bit and get it, I’d get just a little more excited and it would keep me enthused to work on the next bit. Learning to play this song is not like learning songs I have learned before. I’m learning to play the rhythm guitar section that the rhythm guitarist plays on the recording and in the live shows. It’s not like learning just the chords so you can sing along. It’s cooler.
It’s given me confidence that I can really do this. It been a big step in my learning to play an instrument I have been learning to play since I was a child. I am now hearing the rhythms in other songs clearer and am able to play them better, even if I haven’t worked out the chords and fingerings. For the first time I actually believe I will be able to pick up some songs without needing sheet music, something I never expected I would be able to do. And my inner child is deliriously happy. She’s dancing around and rocking out and spinning in circles of delight.
And now if you will excuse me she’s asking me if she can go play now.
Support artists. Buy their music.
Keep music and the arts in our schools.
Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.
