Mandolin Progress Report

I had planned to spend the month of June remembering how to play my mandolin.  I had planned to play through "Dona Nobis Pacem" at least once each day while I prayed for peace.  As with many of my plans, I had mixed success.

For the first part of the month, I consistently picked up my mandolin daily and played through the song as I prayed for peace.  One day, I didn't play it on my mandolin, but I sang through it and prayed.  And then, my mandolin got out of tune, and I had trouble tuning it, and I stopped picking it up daily.

My spouse tuned it for me, and I've spent the last 2 weeks playing every few days.  Last night, I picked it up again, and I was happy that I could still remember how to play it.  My spouse was working on a harder piece on his violin, which makes it hard for me to hear what I'm working on when I play the mandolin.

We did a bit of internet wandering, as I remembered a Peter, Paul, and Mary version of the song he was working on.  He was playing "Midnight Train," which they interpreted as "Morning Train."  From there, we looked at some videos of Yo Yo Ma and Joshua Bell--nothing like looking at professionals to make me feel like it's useless to pick up an instrument.

Of course, I remember that becoming a professional is not the point.  I pick up my instruments again and again because it brings me a kind of joy.  I pick up my instruments because it's another way to pray.