Mastering words

Here is the concluding blog post that was inspired by last Tuesday's (Sept. 15) discussion in Creative Writing class...

Topic 2: Becoming a master
In high school whenever I started learning a new piece, my violin teacher always reminded me that I had to learn the correct notes, the right rhythm and the ever-changing dynamics as they were written in the score before I could take the song and change it around to make it my own. I had to know the piece so well, so completely, that I could play the entire thing exactly as the music indicated. Then, and only then, could I take that music I knew so well and start changing it - holding certain notes for longer than they were supposed to be held, playing with roboto and adding my own feeling and expression - to make it my own.

Last week in Creative Writing, Janelle mentioned something similar in class about how before a person can become a master at poetry (s)he has to follow all the guidelines and obey all the rules. She was using that idea in the context of poetry, but, as I explained above, I understand the concept better in the context of music.

I wonder if I'll ever get to the master stage in my writing. Will a time ever come where I can break a rule or two here or there? Will the rest of my writing be so solid, so unmistakably perfect, that I can tweak a word, a spelling, a punctuation mark, to make the writing 100 percent my own? All I can do is try to make the switch in my brain from music to writing. Wish me luck.