Look how far you've come!

by Minim
I was giving a lesson the other day and my student, a beginner, was having real trouble getting his head around the different kind of seventh chords. As I watch him stumble trying to pick out the notes of a dominant seventh on the piano, I thought to myself 'you have such a long way to go'.

But then again, so do I. All of us are on musical journeys which will never be completed. We'll never reach the stage where we can put our feet up and say 'that's it, my playing is perfect, I know everything there is to know and there is nothing that can be improved.'

In one sense this can be daunting. Very soon after starting to study music, you realise that it's a never-ending task. You reach the top of the mountain only to find that another, taller peak looms on the horizon. In the early days you often think to yourself 'If I could only...' and imagine that musical satisfaction is just around the corner.

If I could only... swing a line / not get lost in the form / play some decent voicings / make it sound like jazz... THEN I'd be happy.

But very soon you start to master your 'if onlys' - only to find they're automatically replaced with new ones. You start to realise that in choosing to play music, you've committed to a path that will be full of frustration and desire and will never reach an end. At times like these, it's worth taking a look backwards. Yes you've got a long journey in front of you - but look how far you've come.

As I watched my student struggling over his chords, I could recall a time when I was in his position and it seemed like I'd never be able to remember even basic triads. I can remember a time when I couldn't play from the top of a lead sheet to the bottom without getting lost. I can remember a time when nothing I played seemed to sound like jazz.

Complete on  >>  http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2010/07/20/look-how-far-you-ve-come-9004732/