In today’s busy world, it’s common to feel that there’s just not enough time. Musicians, students, and teachers are busy people and they often have more things to accomplish than the time they have time to accomplish them. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day. This thought process treats time as a fixed period. How many things can we cram into a fixed amount of time?
When dealing with healing from injury and illness, time doesn’t function as a pre-set unit. Rather, the healing process takes as long as it takes. One of my students is healing from a thumb injury and another is doing rehab for a shoulder issue. Both of these students are hard workers who are used to being able to work quickly and persistently to accomplish the task. When we’re talking about bodies and healing, it just doesn’t work that way. You can and should do what the people on your medical team are asking of you. Yes, do the PT/OT, healthy food, sleep, hydration, rest, ice and heat. But at some point, you’ve done all you can and you have to wait for the healing to happen.
Musicians are a goal-oriented tribe and are used to being in charge of the schedule. This period of waiting for the magic of healing to happen can be very challenging. You cannot will the healing to happen faster. After my first hand surgery, I was officially discharged from hand therapy because I met all the range of motion and strength requirements, but I couldn’t get the index finger of my left hand successfully and comfortably onto my piccolo. My hand therapist (Amazing Hand Magician) told me that there was nothing else they could do for me. I needed to keep doing my stretching and exercises and wait for time to continue the healing. That was an eye-opening experience for me. I had done everything they asked but wasn’t there yet because not enough time had passed for the tissues to heal and adapt under load.
Both of these students I mentioned earlier had to take some time away from the flute, and it’s not a surprise that tone quality, breathing mechanics, and technique are not where they would like them to be. Of course they aren’t! You’ve only been able to play for 7 minutes a day! Here is another place where we need to be respectful of time. As the body heals and practice time can increase, flute playing skills will improve. They are a function of consistency over time and there’s only so much you can do with limited time. You learned these things before and you can learn them again. When/If you or your students find yourselves in such a situation, consider extending grace to yourself. Yes – to yourself! Many of us would never speak to a student, friend, colleague, or family member in the way we speak to ourselves inside our own heads. You are doing the best you can in a challenging situation and allow yourself the space and time that you need to recover.