When I was a teenager, I dreamed of playing Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan on the cello.  Today, after fifty years of absence from the instrument, I’m dreaming again.

I started with my cello teacher Lieven last September.  I have had moments of fine playing, flowing deeply into the music.  Mostly, though, it’s been a grind: out-of-tune notes, a scratchy sound on the strings.  I have despaired.  My head keeps falling down and I keep raising it again.

Yo Yo Ma is a brilliant cellist.  I will never play The Swan like him.  But that doesn’t matter.  We share something far beyond our senior citizenship.  We hear the beauty inside the melody.  Our bodies vibrate with the deep notes of the cello.  Our playing can take us into realms of the Spirit … where listeners may be touched.

I need to get that sometimes there is passion seeping out from my left hand on the fingerboard and my right on the bow.  A connection happens with the audience even if the technique is faulty.

My playing abilities will continue to improve.  May my yearning for the cello never die.  And may someone hear me play The Swan someday.

Here’s Yo Yo to inspire you …

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3qrKjywjo7Q&si=WrnGUu5KUBONm6al