Invisible progress

It isn't a Mission Impossible after all!

Last night at my wind orchestra rehearsal, we played the Mission Impossible Theme tune. I played this years ago, at school, and remember struggling with the tricky rhythmn. It is written in a 5-4 time signature to get that recognisable four beat tune. You'd know it if I sung it, but I'm not sure how best to write it down so you know what I mean. Hopefully most of you are familiar with the song.

Despite having had few clarinet lessons since I last played this piece twenty odd years ago, I was able to play it with no problems last night. It is a fun tune and will be a great one to play when we next have a concert.

We won’t look anything like this! Photo by Steve Harrris on Unsplash

This made me think about how hard it can be to see skills change. Like children growing up, the differences are small. You need to look back over a longer period of time, as these sorts of skills don't have the markers to judge development.

If you're a runner, then you can time how long it takes you to run a hundred metres, or a marathon, or whatever distance you enjoy most. But how do you measure things like playing music, or writing? 

The more I read, the more I see what other writers do better. This makes it hard to keep pushing to write as your own faults loom large. But the progress is there, even if we can't see it. I know so much more about writing, publishing, and marketing, than I did four years ago as I began editing my first book. I might not be able to point to where my craft is better, but that doesn't mean the progress isn't there.

So, this is a reminder to all of us to trust that there is development under the surface and to stop comparing ourselves to others. We all come into our own in our own time. Some things can't be rushed!