The Common Tone

[photopress:17547.jpg,full,alignleft]

Alison Goodwin; Center Road

whispers

whispers whistle
stir the fertile rows,
one seed is planted

a whole forest grows

misty ripples spread.
like ghosts in rank
unborn thoughts push

back, deep and dank.

silent light filters
resting gently on
the soft moss floor,

there is the chance for dawn.

Pat Metheny - Have You Heard? The Road to You
Acov is back online after a very extended break. Call it a mission, to find myself, and imagine my surprise when I found myself right back here in very familiar territory. It has been an interesting first semester at my learning institution of choice UPEI. In short it was challenging, fun, stressful, and much, much more good came out of it than bad. The only complaint I have is with the amount of playing I was able to do. This though, is do more to my lack of passion for it of late than any other reason (although the incessant tests and assignments didn’t help). That’s right, it surprised me as much as it probably does you, but a lack of passion.

My so called mission was begun not in this passion-less place but ended there. It was begun at a place where I didn’t want to be, here. I was sure that it was the wrong place for me, and so the search began. In spite of myself though, I was brought right back here by the people (no surprise in retrospect). Still on this mission it was my education under attack this time. But challenge after challenge and person by person I managed once again to take point A directly to point A, UPEI. As the mission continued I began to question the mission itself, until I realized that, of course, it had to be my playing. This of course was seconded by my Tech Prof. who also tore me a prescription for more practice and a total revamp of playing habits. Let me ask you, when was the last time you tried to change a habit (let alone many) that you have been ingraining everday for the last 7 years? In this search for better posture, breathing, blowing, vibrating and thinking, I realized, at the end, that where it had all started was truly the best. Although the path was mighty windy and hilly this time, it still took me to that all too common place. This mission was now coming to its final crest as I took what I was convinced was the true path to the answer. It was my career, the very culmination of my education, and my place and my thoughts and passions. That had to be it. I began researching job after job. After a while that all too familiar sensation that realization happened. I realized this time though, that it didn’t matter. I will always be where I need to be, if the people around me are the people I need. I will go anywhere, be anything, play any way. Thank you Shannon, for that lesson. The hard thing is convincing everyone else of that.
And so, I offer up a thank you to all the people around me, and an apology to those same people. I am here for you.

Still this does not mean that there will be no changes made in Point A in the coming semester. O, far from it. There will be much more playing. And two Jazz lessons, ear and theory. There will be more open-ness, smiling, art, physics, and people. There will be more life.

And finally, a New Year’s toast to the already resolved ACOV: Cheers to those who have found it, and a drink to those who haven’t.

Yours

P.S - ACOV will be changing servers and domain names soon and I am considering changing the name of the blog. Let me know what you all think (if anyone still reads this). I might have a poll on possible new names up soon.