Body type

Not everyone has the body to be an olympic athlete. Same with music, some hands may not withstand a specific type of performance.

Maybe the type of music you are trying to play is not adapted to your natural anatomy. How could you play in a better suited fashion, following your truer identity, mind and body?

An athlete running marathon couldn't be the one lifting weights. Same with music, not everyone has the anatomy and nervous system to play at 400bpm... It doesn't make the music less valid, just better adapted to the human playing it.

If everybody could be number one, there would be no number one! (In some arbitrary category...)

Should music be a competition?

If you partake in it, then you take the responsibility of not being number one and maybe damaging yourself.

In competitive sports a lot of injuries occur, as only a few bodies can withstand the punishment of rising to the top.

Someone has to be clear in his intent of playing music. Unfortunately, economic realities may push someone along this path and create physical and financial complications in the future.

If you believe music is art, communication, expression...

The technical aspects should only exist as serving the sound.

All sounds are equally valid, any judgement only gets in the way of the moment, the true meaning...

The ego pushes for extra notes, extra speed, for some kind of validation due to some technical prowess which another human couldn't achieve. To what use?

Are we judging ourselves based on some rigid templates, not adapted to our identity, maybe hoping for recognition and rewards when able to comply to its demands?

Dystonia robs us of the ability to dazzle with technical mastery. It forces us to revisit why we play, the place of music and sounds in our world, our natural physical abilities and how to stop competing and/or judging.

The only "thing" which matters is the journey. None of us will ever get to the goal. What ever goal you achieve means nothing, as it's just a marker along the way to discovery. No one is against you, no one is for you... just sounds... blowing in the wind... disappearing into nothingness... being part of the past as soon as played...

Competition