adamconover:

I really like this short piece by Kevin Mullaney.

I’m learning to play guitar. It is a tough, slow process. […] The first time I try a chord on the guitar, it may physically hurt. It feels awkward. My fingers can’t make that shape. And if they can make that shape, I might take an inordinate amount of time to switch from that chord to any other. So should I give up? Should I say, “G7 chords don’t work for me. I only play E and D chords.” Of course not.

And neither should we as improvisors. We should be willing to practice new exercises many times before we even judge it to be useful. And we should recognize that we may have to do it again and again across many practice sessions, before the skill becomes second nature. Eventually it gets into our body and becomes a process that we do subconsciously. It will then be as easy as saying a phrase or singing a melody, or playing a D chord.

I teach comedy improv to middle schoolers and I just started learning the ukulele, and this lil essay is so right on about both art forms (so much so that I plan to read it to my students this week). My ability to properly uke out on “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” has increased like woah over the past couple of weeks (as have my finger blisters), and I’ve watched my students slowly but surely internalize the idea that establishing a relationship is more beneficial to a scene than throwing out a bunch of nonsensical jokes in a weird accent.

I’ve noticed this phenomenon in my life outside of art as well. Despite having never demonstrated an interest in the environment before (and still mostly disliking nature), I lived in an environmental house during college and I had to put an irritating level of effort into changing my habits. Once they became habits, though, it was easy - I could take short showers, turn off lights, and cut back on waste without a whole lot of thought.

I believe that the same is true when it comes to how we choose to treat the people around us. The world has trained us to interact with others in some truly messed up ways. Treating everyone with compassion and respect can at first feel awkward and unnatural (and I work with middle schoolers, so trust me, I know about awkward and unnatural), but with practice we can get kindness into our bodies. It may take life-long attention to truly treat everyone with the dignity they deserve, but we can surely get it into our bodies.