The Minutia

To be an artist is to take pleasure in the detail.

The best drawings are those which are meticulous. Focusing on each stroke and enjoying the slow and detailed process is the entire story. The creative idea can take a few minutes but the creation of the art work is pain staking and full of minutia.

For those who are always focused on the big picture, violin just ain't going to be easy.

Getting lazy, or aiming for the 'overall idea' or having a casual go at art just doesn't work. Playing a beautiful melody and followed by a lazy note destroys the entire melody. The details on everything must be retained.

Somehow this relates to the idea of a performance being make up of a number of blocks arranged in a way that captures the imagination of the audience.

There is a physical repetition to being an artist.

There is no room to get lazy.

A constant and concerted effort to capture the detail of a performance results in a stress free believable experience.

Understanding music is easy. Enjoying the emotion of music is easy. Perhaps imagining a musical idea can come in a flash. Performing requires a reliable and refined constant and passionate appreciation for detail.

Touch. Fingers. Sound. Strings. Metal. Wood. Hair. Finger nails. Skin. Eyes. Arms. Vibration. Acoustics. Intonation.

When you're at the beach you can focus on the horizon or you can close your eyes and feel the sand in between your toes.

Music is created to convince an audience. It is series of ideas that lead the audience to expect some sort of resolution. Getting lazy and being sloppy with the details shows up in the audience's mind like huge walls they have to try to ignore.