I'm a wimp

12 year old Christian Li with his violin

“I’m so excited to have signed to Decca Classics just after my 12th birthday, and to be releasing my very first recording! I love playing the violin, and really hope you enjoy listening.”

When I read about a 12 year old like this I realise that I am a wimp. I aspire to musical heights but hardly lift a hand to reach them. Likewise in other areas of my life. I aspire to being an expert in my field, but I am not even sure what my field is. Jack of a few trades, master of none. I've highlighted several other musical prodigies recently. What more can I say? For time would fail me to tell of...

This two weeks chez great-grandma: the early mornings are mine as neither she nor Ali surface until after 9am. So I've listened to some music. This morning it was Tchaikovsky's 5th conducted by Manfred Honeck, a symphony I have not listened to for many years. And yet in it are themes that have infiltrated my being since my youth, so that I find myself humming them whilst running, or picking them out when I sit at the piano...

The french horn solo in the 2nd movement - way back in time when I had that reel-to-reel tape recorder I recorded this excerpt onto a small tape reel and mailed it to my Aunty Mary. Now-a-days you would just attach a clip to an email or chat but such things hadn't been invented back then. I wanted to reach out and share my enjoyment and hoped that she would respond appropriately. But there was no response and later, when I asked her, it seemed as though she hadn't even played the tape. Which saddened me.

Accepting that I am a wimp I long, at least, to in some way inspire the youngsters at home to excel, particularly but not necessarily in music. I see much potential for talent, even some desire to do well but, as a community, I think we shy away from excellence and competition perhaps because it is seen to exalt the creature rather than the creator. I wonder - what would we do with a 12 year old that wanted to practice 6 hours a day? The nearest we've had to this is when my daughter was learning to fly: a seeming impossibility at the time but it happened and this ought to encourage me to push others, but there's got to be something to push...