Selling to Anyone Over the Phone by Renee P. Walkup

IN AN INTERVIEW on public radio, a classical musician commented on a particularly complex piece by a contemporary composer: "It appears difficult, but once you learn it, it's not that hard to play." Very intimidating at first glance, the piece would scare off less tenacious musicians, who would choose something else to play for competitions or performances. Taking the time to learn the piece, the persistent player discovered the natural progressions in the notes, allowing him to offer something unique and complex when he played in public. What stopped most musicians was the initial, forbidding appearance of the notes on the page. Those same notes, whose arrangement came to make sense to the professional musician, offered a surer way into auditions and performances.