The Synergy of Music Anonymous

My fingers pirouetted up and down the fingerboard, spiraling faster than the notes running through my head. Every white callous and bloody blister had led up to this moment, as I could feel all those hours of repetition, struggle, and stumbling finally beginning to pay off. Approaching the most difficult measures of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, my body braced itself for an onslaught of notes. A tongue twister for my fingers, the menacing measure had always been a source of frustration and difficulty, a part I had always struggled to surpass in every single concert preceding this one. But even with the constant fear of my past performances needling the back of my head, I finally felt my fingers soar over the crescendo, tiptoe through the pizzicato chords, and emerge triumphant at the end of the phrase. I had done it! I had actually succeeded! But just as my heart started to slow down and relief washed over me, the unimaginable happened. I couldn't feel my fingers.

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IASAS was what my year of practicing the same song had been for, as I adored the pleasure of being able to spend five days with other musicians, all of whom shared my passion for music. I had chosen Elgar's cello concerto for this same reason: to display my...