Wednesday, March 9, 2016

What Lies Within

(This is a post dealing with skill development, whether you are a musician, sports participant, business owner or budding artist.  The logo implies music, yet these ideas are transferable to all endeavors.  Thanks for reading.)

A story:

One of the greatest violinists of all time was Nicolo Paganini.  Born in 1782, he had a long and illustrious career before his death in 1840.

One day as Paganini was about to perform before a packed opera house, he suddenly realized that he had walked out on the stage with a strange violin in his hands - not his own treasured instrument made by the master violin maker Guarneri.

Panic-stricken, but realizing that he had no other choice, he began to play with all the skill he possessed. Everyone agreed afterward that he gave the performance of his life. When he was finished, the audience gave him a standing ovation.

In his dressing room after the concert, when he was praised for his superlative performance, Paganini replied, "Today, I learned the most important lesson of my entire career. Before today I thought the music was in the violin. Today I learned that the music is in me."


Maybe our talent, or genius, or immense skill really does reside inside of us and not in the tools, trinkets, and magic elixirs we once believed in.

I am a writer.  I would love to live in an ocean side home with a high perch for a writing room.  The truth is that I can write anywhere.  I’ve written in a dozen Starbucks, a smelly tire store, university libraries, a noisy mall, my car, and a hundred other places.

The skill is within you.  Let it out wherever you go.  


Michael Biggs
Steps and Skips
Tips for the Developing Soul


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