Sep 9, 2021 01:45pm

By Steve Eulberg

Under subscriber news, jam sessions, performance & sharing

3 min read

Cluck, Cluck

DXingLinedrawingLOGO

You cannot soar like an eagle with a chicken mentality. Elevate your thoughts to elevate your life (and your music). A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chickens and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked. "That's the eagle, the king of the birds," said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth—we're chickens." So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was. This story kind of resonated in my heart … because sometimes I live like a chicken instead of a musician. Yesterday I was asked to make a weekly commitment to play keyboard for a group. My excuse was that I don't have time to practice and prepare to play for them regularly. But could I have made the time? We have finally returned from our 3-month vacation, and I was very grateful to be allowed the time off as I am the Sales Manager at our 55+ community. But my sales office was not in the condition in which I left it. … not up to par by my standards. I know I’m a bit OCD (ok, a lot), but I have found myself working extra hours to get everything back on track and organized the way it should be. I reshot photos and reloaded the website listings, I checked over paperwork completed in our absence and made corrections. In addition, I made 3 sales last week so there is a lot of paperwork to prepare for those closings. Whew! I’m a busy girl. But am I too busy to share my gift with others? Yes … and no. Sure, I have become completely immersed in business dealings again, but am I using that as a justification for avoiding performance? I may look like a musician and I can sure talk the talk like a musician, but underneath all that … am I a chicken? What about you? Do you make up excuses, create avoidance behavior, and do your best to stay behind the scenes? Here’s my suggestion. Just gather together a group of like-minded chickens, I mean musicians, and play together for an audience – perhaps at a nursing home. That will break the ice and build your confidence so you can soar like an eagle musically. Happy dulcimering, Linda
Bridging the Gap Between What You Know ... And Where You Want Your Music to Go

Sep 9, 2021 01:45pm

By Steve Eulberg

Under subscriber news, jam sessions, performance & sharing

3 min read

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