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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Alternate Career Option?

In a quartet rehearsal, my fellow musicians and I found ourselves swapping a few "horror stories" of previous chamber music experiences. I mentioned (not by name of course) a person I played with who had tragically made it to adulthood still under the impression that personal life difficulties made one exempt from having to show up for rehearsals or classes, come prepared, and be responsible.

I expressed my belief that sometimes life is difficult for everyone, but we're all adults now, and professors and teachers and peers alike need to stop enabling individuals like this and tell them to suck it up - sometimes life is rough, and you still have to be responsible, get your act together, show up to your obligations, and do a good job. Having a personal problem is not an excuse to stay in your pajamas for a semester and bail out on everyone and everything.

[I know... my empathy is astounding.]

Said Miriam, a violist, "Wow, Sarah, you should be a life coach."

Well, if violin doesn't work out for me, now I have a fallback plan.

[Really, it's not that I don't care. I just don't think getting a free pass to sit around feeling sorry for oneself actually helps anyone in the long run. Getting squared away and getting stuff accomplished is part of moving on, and that's life. I do have a heart... I think.]

3 comments:

  1. I'm not sure...when you say "personal life difficulties" are you meaning

    A) "I'm feeling a little sniffly and I stayed up too late last night obsessing over what my boyfriend said to me" or

    B) "My mother died two days ago"

    Because if A, then you're spot on. If B, you have no heart at all. :)

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  2. You go, Em! I'm glad to know that when I die, I'll be mourned for a full two days!

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  3. Let's say somewhere in between. More serious than a cold but far less (in my opinion) than a death, and also, this thing happened over six months previously, so...

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