My daughters may disagree with me, but I don’t recall bugging them too much about practicing when they were studying cello, clarinet and voice. I think I know why. I don’t like practicing either, never have.

Now is no different. I wish I could say that practicing the string bass is stirring my soul and enriching my life. But truth to tell, I sandwich in the minutes around everything else, often in the evening when I’m exhausted. Sometimes I don’t know whether I’m holding the bass or the bass is holding me.

This is good news, though. It confirms, for one, that I made the right career choice. I can immerse myself in writing or editing and the hours fly by. The minutes I spend practicing the bass do not.

But all the minutes will be worth it when I’m part of an orchestra again, contributing my own (I hope in-tune) notes to that swelling symphonic sound.