Just A Song Sunday: Brushing Up on the Functional Skills

There is always a moment, on these Sundays, when I sit at the keyboard and just stare. I'm never really sure what to write about, so I simply stare for some time.

Then, my mind starts to wander and something eventually occurs to me. Today is no exception. I'm sitting here, letting my mind wander, and all of a sudden I see the Beginning Guitar Superbook sitting on my bookshelf. What could I do with that? Hmmm.

I am a functional guitarist. I can chord with the best of them, change my strum and style, and transpose almost everything that's put in front of me. I am NOT a lead guitarist at all! I have to concentrate so very hard to play melodies on the guitar that it takes up all of my brain power. It's difficult for me to focus on doing therapy when I am trying so hard to put my fingers in the right places on the fingerboard, so I often use my voice for the melody and use the guitar simply as an accompanying instrument.

I play the piano at the early service where I work on Sunday mornings. I am not a functional pianist. I blame my piano professor, but that's a WHOLE other sordid story that I won't go into here. I can chord, change my style, and make it sound like I am playing what is on the page, but it's really not. Again, I use my voice to present the melody while the piano is simply an accompanying instrument.

What all of this is leading up to is that functional instrument skill is something that can always be improved upon, even when you are several decades away from piano class or guitar technique class.

For the next week, I am going to spend time every day on my functional skill on both the piano and the guitar. This is partially for my own personal benefit and partially because my internship is starting up again and I need to be able to demonstrate some skill and growth to my interns. I also need something else to do that will encourage my creativity, especially at work where I spend most of my time doing documentation.

Strengthening functional skills on various instruments allows for more options for the therapist within a session. The more I practice, the better the tools available at my (forgive me for this) fingertips. I want more options for me and for my clients when we are making music together.

I will explore. I will play. I will practice - with the end goal of bettering my musical skill for the benefit of my clients.

The next time I play a song for my clients, it may be more than just a song.

Happy Sunday!