At the end of a classic movie from my childhood, The Neverending Story, The Empress Moonchild, with the utmost care, holds out to the main character, Bastien, a single precious grain of sand, beaming with a tiny flicker of light. She explains how in that grain contains all of her kingdom - Fantasia - if he will but care for it and make a wish. One grain of sand can become an entire world.
Every tiny little step in your practice is like a grain of sand. It may look like it doesn’t matter. You may not even notice how important it is. But oh, Bastien, it is the only thing that IS important.
This post is a celebration of those beautiful tiny granules!!! I want to celebrate every time a student sits down on the piano bench and gets out their binder to practice! I want to celebrate each time a new student plays their 2nd finger and consciously focuses on curving it instead of collapsing it! Let’s celebrate every time a student tucks their thumb exactly when the 2nd finger plays on their scales, and let’s shout with joy when a student marks their practice chart with that little tick mark that says “CHECK. DONE. FIST BUMP.” I want to celebrate every student who sits down to learn a new repertoire piece and actually names the notes - OUT LOUD - five times and memorizes it. And then they name their finger numbers. Five times. And memorizes it. And then rhythm and then expression and you know the drill... I want to celebrate each time a student listens to the sound that is made when they perform a wrist technique, and then adjusts and re-adjusts until the sound is just right! Yes you, Entrada student. Each grain of sand you care for is creating and making a difference!
Take a ride on Falkor the Luckdragon and celebrate with me! (It's something we've all secretly dreamed of doing...well at least if you grew up in the 1980's...) You students have a lot of tiny little grains of sand to care about!
Minute after minute, hour after hour, week after week, and year after year, these grains of sand add up: brain cells and nerve cells make connections, muscles grow in facility and memory, and what was once conscious becomes embedded into the unconscious. Fantasia is becoming realized again, in YOUR body and YOUR world! And just like the Entrada sandstone layer in southern Utah that makes up the beautiful arches we all love to see, all of these grains of sand are building a beautiful structure in your life as well.
So cheers to the granularity! It matters, my awesome students. One FERN at a time. One Muscle Builder at a time. One rhythm counted out loud. 20 times. “The more wishes you make... the more fantasia will become…” (And now you know what movie to put next in your queue to watch this weekend! You’re welcome.)
posted by Candice