I was on the elliptical machine at the gym listening to Pandora a couple of weeks ago when this song popped up (on the Rihanna channel of all places!). The title was “What Can I Do? (But Love You)” and I was shocked to realize that the singer was Joy Williams from The Civil Wars, one of my very favorite groups.
I immediately downloaded the song from iTunes and listened to the entire EP nonstop for a couple of weeks, and then decided that I wanted to learn to play that first song that had caught my ear at the gym. Unfortunately, the sheet music was nowhere to be found…I couldn’t even find the chords. So I learned it by ear instead.
It’s been a long while since I sat down and played music for myself. By that, I mean music that isn’t new repertoire for my students or for a gig, but purely for my enjoyment. So it felt really good to learn and practice this song, under no pressure or time constraints whatsoever. After a couple days of playing, I decided to record it.
My recording is definitely far from perfect, but the best part is that it doesn’t have to be, since it’s just for me :) Spending the time learning and playing this song was an excellent reminder that I need to do more of this. It’s good for my inner musician and good for the soul!
