sometimes, progress marked and expressed in beautiful metaphors

my guitar teacher complimented my playing at our lesson the other day, observing that i'm no longer soloing "like [i'm] trying to get out of prison."

i feel like i tend to have on and off days when it comes to improvising expressively and effectively, and i think that i happened to be on an up day in this regard, though i will allow that the on days seem to be coming along a little bit more frequently. i was really struck by how easily that off-the-cuff analogy came to him, and how increasingly apt it seems as i think more and more about how i've sounded whenever i am deliberately trying to impress (the act of simply identifying those times represents a different but equally valuable path of learning).

i love that music is evocative to the degree that such symbolism can ring true on such a deeply innate level.