“My barn having burned to the ground,
I can now see the moon.” – Chinese proverb
“The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He’ll never give up.
If he’d let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.” – Hakuin
It seems that an appreciation for the moon is the bones of these two pieces. We all want the moon, i.e. to get off on stage. But we don’t always do what we need to do to get our moon. Yet, we know that obtaining our moon will make us feel better.
When you reach the point in your playing where you are willing to let go of all your judgement, ego, standing on the side with your arms crossed, leaning against the wall, not actively participating because you’re too concerned about looking cool, or whatever, that’s when you can appreciate the peace and nice buzz of the moon. Whatever that means to you. Gettin’ off on stage. There is no “doing it right”, there is just “giving yourself to it” by leaving your own BS in the greenroom. It’ll always be there when you’re done playing.
