Something my guitar coach (who is an awesome guitarist and will be playing in my concert! YAY!!) said the other day really struck me. He said from the first day we learn music we have been taught to think in terms of “bars”. You start at beat 1, and you play to beat 4 (assuming it’s a 4/4 piece 
). Then he said to me, “Instead of playing towards beat 4 or the END of the bar, mentally always think of playing towards beat 1, or the BEGINNING of the NEXT bar. If you play and sing that way mentally, you will find your performance will have a more forward moving, narrative feel to it.”
Interesting.
Then it struck me, can’t we look at life the same way? So often in life, we celebrate and focus on milestones that we have accomplished or finished, or “beat 4 of a bar” if you will: graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Nothing wrong with that of course. But what if we flip it around a little and celebrate, in anticipation ”beat 1″ of the next bar? If we look at all our life experiences: triumpths, defeats, missions accomplished, opportunities missed, the highs and the lows and all in between, as a “pick up” or build up towards the “next bar”, then in a real sense, there is no such thing as a “good” or “bad” experience…EVERYTHING happens to move us, to lead us towards the the next bar of our life’s narrative, as we find ourselves more and more a part of THE STORY that is greater than us. “And we know that in ALL things God works…..” (Rom 8:28). Isn’t that a more “hope-filled” way of playing and living?
Beat 4 was great. But here’s to Beat 1
P.S. Make sure you come to the concert on Aug 7 to hear some good “beat 1″ music!! Click the “Concert 2011″ tab above to order tickets today!
