T-SQL Tuesday #99 – Dealer’s Choice

This month’s T-SQL Tuesday comes to us via Aaron Bertrand (b|t)  and he gave us a choice between discussing a passion we have outside of work or… it doesn’t matter. When given a choice like that, -always- go with passion.

The Origin

This particular passion didn’t surface until I entered Junior High/Middle School which would place me at around age 11 or 12. That’s when I got the chance to choose my first ‘elective’ class. Finally getting a choice is a big deal and, wanting to make the most of it, I chose the coolest elective out there – Orchestra. That’s right, I started down the journey of a violinist. It started the same way it does for most people, with a chorus of just absolutely horrid screeching, but I pushed through it and as I did it soon started to become clear that I was good. Really, really good. There were a few other folks that were similarly heads and shoulders above the rest in the class: Jim, the cellist, Patricia the violaist, and we a talented bassist that, while I can’t recall her name, I do remember her talent. The four of us grouped up to perform in every event we could through UIL competitions. Somewhere, perhaps my mother still has it, there is just a bag of probably 30 or so medals from our efforts through those years.

In the summer between middle school and high school, after I qualified to jump straight to the senior class orchestra, the orchestra director submitted my audition tape to one of the local universities where I was also invited to participate in their master class that summer. It was a great experience that I wish I had done more with but, if I’m being honest, I was a bit overwhelmed and it got to me.

Throughout high school I continued to improve and was 1st chair 1st violin for the majority of my time there, occasionally slipping to 2nd chair when I lost focus, but the friendly competition for solos and the coveted role of Concert Master was always a driving force.

The Decline

In early childhood I broke my left arm. Little did I know how much that would come back to haunt me. Sadly it resulted in fluid buildup in my left wrist which inhibited my ability to play the way I needed to and so I ended up realizing that I would not likely be able to pursue the violin as a career choice any longer since playing started equaling pain when I could manage it and I wasn’t going to settle for just being one of the many. My competitive side wouldn’t stand for it. I will link the piece I was working on when I decided to stop (Violin Concerto in D minor by Jean Sibelius). I had worked it up to about the 3 minute mark.

The Present

While I may not have been able to pursue the path of a violinist as far as I would have liked I am grateful that I managed to find a career that allows me to tap into some of the same raw energies. Have you ever been coding something and you lose yourself ‘in the zone’? That’s tapping into the same stuff. You get to just take a step back and just act as a conduit between your brain and your body and let them do their thing. If you have an activity where you can lose yourself ‘in the zone’ I say keep it up! If you don’t, I would urge you to find one.

 

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