Plan the trip but don’t plan where you end up!
On Sunday, Cris, Sandra, and I explored 3 Creeks Natural Area. It’s 89 acres of mostly wetland smack dab in the middle of commercial urban-ness.
We find a new place to hike each month by looking for anything that gets us out of doors. Rain was forecast for the second day of Spring, but it held off till the end of our outing. When it came, it was very light, almost refreshing.
The park wasn’t much to speak of – undeveloped trails, most of which ended in wet marshy areas. We did a lot of doubling back.
Early on in our exploring, we crested a rise that gave us a good view over all the wetland. “What’s that large pool of water over yonder?” I wondered.
Then I saw the deer. No, a young faun. It was rather small. “Look!” I pointed in the direction of the water. “A deer.”
Uh, that’s not a deer, Meg
“Uh, that’s not a deer, Meg,” Cris nudged me, “That’s a coyote.”
The coyote stood there staring at us from 150 yards away. After about 10 seconds, she/he turned and loped away into the brush.
Well, that was exciting and totally unexpected. Those are the kind of experiences I enjoy – a pleasing, surprising encounter with wildlife.
Unexpected encounters in music
In my music practice, I dutifully play my longtones and run up and down my scales. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised by the unexpected gift of “seeing wildlife.” Yesterday, I was warming up with some longtones and just for the heck of it, I turned on the radio. The Miles Davis tune, So What, was playing. It was the perfect song with which to play along.
It’s perfect because it only contains two chords: D minor 7 and Eb minor 7 and the chords stay the same for many measures in a row. I played the root of each chord as a longtone. The song structure goes like this:
- 8 measures of D minor 7
- another 8 measures of D minor 7
- 8 measures of Eb minor 7
- 8 measures of D minor 7
The form is a standard 32-bar song form, A-A-B-A, in which each letter represents 8 measures of music.
Do the footwork
You can’t plan to see a coyote. You can’t plan to hear the perfect song on the radio. But you can take a hike, go exploring, get out there; you know, do the footwork. As my friend, April, says to me when I’m trying to plan and control, “Do the footwork and leave the outcome to the universe. Turn it over.”
Doing the footwork was taking the hike. Seeing the coyote was an un-planned treat, a gift from the universe. Doing the footwork is practicing my warmups. Hearing So What was a treat from the universe.
I can’t promise that you will always “see a coyote” when you do the footwork, but your chances increase significantly when you take a hike!
Your comments are welcome
Make a comment on my website or drop me an email: meg@meggrace.com.
Thanks for reading! The next edition of Musician’s Motivator will be out on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.
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