Just a Recorder

When someone tries to tell you that what you do isn't really worthwhile, just show them this video and say, "And a recorder isn't a real instrument."

No one can be you better than you can.  You are in competition with nobody other than your past and future selves.  

Play the recorder (or do what you do) and be satisfied with your own progress - because you know the effort you put into it.  It doesn't have to be a virtuoso performance for a paying audience and it certainly doesn't need to be perfect.  The faults and flaws that happen are part of the beauty of the whole.  I am certain Maurice Steger, the performer in the video above, might take note of some mistakes in this performance, but I did not detect them.  After all, if he made mistakes, he made them boldly and he made them with the integrity of one who has worked hard to produce the best music he can make.

Maybe you aren't the kind of person that wants to play the fast and furious peace in a major key.  Maybe you are like Bolette Roed and you prefer to play a different type of recorder in a minor key.  And, maybe you like to start as part of the crowd, until suddenly, you find that you are in the spotlight - and you find that people actually enjoy what you do.

Be you - and be you well.

And maybe let yourself take a moment and realize that the recorder is beautiful.