When I was in the second grade, I had one violin lesson.

The teacher humiliated me, and I never went back.

So ended my “brilliant” music career.

Now, with the hindsight of an adult, I know the teacher didn’t mean to embarrass me.

He was just trying to show me proper technique, but I felt singled out and shamed in front of my classmates.

Part of me always wondered, though, what I would have been like – what I would have gained – if I had stuck with the lessons.

Last December, I made a resolution:

In 2023, at the ripe old age of 312, give or take, I was going to learn a music instrument.

I was going to take on the violin, for the first time, again.

So in January, I purchased a decent adult starter violin from Kennedy Violins. I ordered some instructional books for beginners from Amazon. I even snagged a spiffy music stand, and I started my great adventure.

I found a teacher who was kind and patient, and, oh, told me during our first meeting that the violin is the hardest instrument to learn.

Okay then.

How often in adult life are you faced with something in that is absolutely, profoundly foreign to you? Something to which you have no reference, no basis for comparison, no well of experience to draw upon?

So it was for me with the violin.

I made a point of practicing for at least 20 minutes six days a week, sometimes more on the weekends.

Now, when I have a day where I am not playing, I miss it.

Over the year, I even attended three classical music concerts, which brings my lifetime total of classical music concerts (oh, let me do the math: carry the one, multiply by seven) to three.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be able to understand music notation, I would’ve thought you nuts.

When I started playing, I was terrible.

I still am terrible.

But I’m better than I was when I started, and I am getting better.

With every practice, I learn something more.

I’ve discovered: The more you put into music, the more you get back.

I’m so grateful that I challenged myself.

This was a gift I gave myself. And I’m glad I kept this one resolution. In the new year, I am going to continue practicing and studying and improving.

How about you?

How are you challenging yourself for 2024?