Sheet Music

The great conductor called his musicians together and handed out their sheet music. 

‘I can’t play this!” one of the younger members of the orchestra complained. “There’re so many notes. This is beyond me.”

“It is now, but it won’t be. Start playing. You’ll get it.”

So, she did, but it was the most challenging piece of music she’d ever played. There were pages of music, and notes and rhythms she’d never played before. Like a baby taking her initial steps, she fell more than she walked, but each day she played one note she hadn’t before. Some days she threw up her hands wanting to quit, but then she’d hear something or make it through a part that once confounded her and carried on. At a moment of acute frustration, she went to the conductor to complain.

“Can’t you give this music to someone else,” she pleaded. “and give me something else to play.”

The conductor smiled but refused. “No, this is your music. I wrote it specifically for you. Someone else might be able to play it, but it wouldn’t sound the same.”

“But it’s too hard. I hit too many wrong notes.”

“That’s how you find the right ones.”

“It’ll take me my entire lifetime to learn how to play this music.”

“Exactly,” the conductor said as if savoring a vintage wine. “Exactly.”