MOMENTS OF KNOWING

It was the first day. The first day of class in Music Theory. My eyes wandered the room and saw many empty desks. There weren't very many students tackling this first step towards becoming a Music Major. There were possibly fifteen nervous looking faces glancing around the room. None of us knew precisely what Music Theory was, but we were about to find out. The professor introduced himself and said that he was only one of three who would be teaching that course. Music Theory is written, listening, and rhythmic. He would be teaching the written portion of the class. There was scuffling of shoes as several students shifted in their seats.

I later learned that there were several people in that class who were far more talented musically than I, but they could not read music. This class was going to be very painful. It was a shame for them. They could listen to any song on the radio and play it on their given instrument, but to read the music off of the page... Ah, but that is their story.

That day, that first day, I experienced what I call a time of knowing. The professor stood in front of us, a ragtag group (at best), and asked if anyone could sing/hum a "G" for him. In my head, I could hear middle "C" and just worked up from there to "G." And I knew that it was "G." Was I scared to sing/hum my "G" and have it be wrong? Of course. The thing is that I was in my time of knowing. I couldn't stop myself and it came out. He was standing beside the piano and he hit the actual "G" while I was singing my "G" and I was dead on. It wasn't flat, sharp, or the wrong note. I nailed it. It was "G."

Looking back, I know he must have been delighted. He thought he had a student with perfect pitch. Not so. He had a student that every now and then has moments of knowing. It turned out that Music Theory was the hardest class that I have ever taken, and nearly stole every last ounce of love and joy music radiates from my soul. I dropped music as my major at the end of my freshman year and didn't look back.


This is me as a freshman in college.

I recently wrote another post where a moment of knowing saved a life. If you missed that one, you can click here. The more I think about it, the more moments of knowing I recall.


Is this just a Robin thing, or have you ever had moments of knowing? Do you feel like sharing? Were they like mine in that they lasted only seconds? Do you have them frequently? Or was it a one time occurrence? How do moments of knowing make you feel?