Music

This morning when I woke up I saw the white blossomed crab apple tree out my bedroom window. My eye lingered on it; reveling in its freshness; marveling that the fullness of the blooms blocked out every bit of blue sky behind it.

“Have I ever even noticed this before?” I thought to myself. “No!” I heard my inner voice answer, almost instantaneously. And I paused and looked at it for a long time.

The fact is, most of the time, I don’t have time to simply look at a tree and turn into a momentary William Wordsworth about it. Every year up until now I’ve been in school, and I haven’t had the luxury to feel “Spring.”

May rolls around and our end of the year deadlines have no mercy on our growing rate of sweat, as we suffer and toil in closed buildings that still haven’t turned the air conditioner back on. We question the purpose of our work or studies; our human systems and schedules that are so disaligned with nature.

For Spring calls us into anything but a productive mode. We have an urge to leave our desks to do nothing in particular, except perhaps sit outside and simply exist. We are tempted to splurge and scatter the currency of our attention, and not worry about those pesky duties.

As my family and friends complain about their many school deadlines, I feel a very lonely “reveler” indeed. I feel guilty about not sharing the toil and that I’m not having a harder time. :)

And yet, this season is making my music better than ever. The spirit of artistic inspiration is something that cannot be scheduled or summoned at will, and I’m so thankful for this Spring season which, although more open ended, is causing me to dive more deeply into my musical abilities than ever before.

All this to say, I’m glad that I’ve gotten to experience that sensation this Spring, this stolen moment of stillness. It may not exist very soon for me upon my return to grad school studies, so I’m taking advantage of this moment. My hope is that you, too, may experience “Spring” and feel yourself invigorated and more inspired with your work… whether it be for a rare season, or just a stolen glance of a blooming tree out the window.