"Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth and all worldly thinking, that it is a truly a blessed gift of God." --Felix Mendelssohn
I'm getting ready to give my junior piano recital in a few weeks, and so today I gave my second "practice" recital. It was really informal, just playing through three of my four pieces, but it helped out my overall confidence--which was the whole point. No matter how difficult practicing is, no matter how badly I feel my music-making is going, when I sit down and give a performance, all that disappears into the background as I play and remember why I'm a musician.