definitions

While doing some reading for string arranging tonight, I learned that the Italian word for sound post - the little stick of wood wedged inside the body of a string instrument - is anima.

The direct translation of anima: 

Soul. Spirit. Heart. Core. Center. Ghost.
 
Sound post. Anima. Soul.


I like that definition. 


The sound post is a seemingly insignificant piece of wood on its own. If you saw one lying on the ground, you wouldn't think anything of it. But without it, the instrument cannot live. The sound will not be transmitted properly to the resonant body of the instrument, and the belly will crack under the pressure of the bridge without the support of the sound post below. 


Such a small thing, and yet it is the anima - the soul - of the instrument.


I think that my goal for this 6-week session is not to lose sight of my soul, my anima, my reason for being. In the midst of academic craziness - countless late nights studying and reading and writing and revising, hours upon hours in class and rehearsals - I want to hold on to my anima, to not lose sight of who I am and what life's all about. I want to focus on my studies and do well, but I want to work hard out of a sincere desire to learn rather than an obsessive desire for perfection. I want to be free to learn for learning's sake. 

I want to be a student with soul.

Anima.