Virtues for the musician: Patience

I’ve recently been researching the career of my great-great-grandfather, circus drummer and orchestral timpanist Teddy King. I imagine him perched on top of the risers in Bournemouth Winter Gardens, waiting for his cue. Does he say to himself, 'Just because the composer wrote no percussion parts into these middle movements, I don’t see why I should be left sitting around. I’m going to play the rest of my part right now'? Or does he decide, 'It feels like my entry will never come. Forget this, I’m going to the pub'?

By choosing either course of action, Teddy would, very briefly, experience the satisfaction of not having to wait – but he would also ruin the performance, upset lots of people, get sacked, and regret his decision long afterwards. Clearly, the only wise option is to exercise patience – to trust the composer’s plan, pay attention to what’s unfolding around him, and prepare himself to play his part when the time comes. By waiting, and waiting well, Teddy will be doing the best he can, not only for the composer whose musical vision he’s helping to embody, and for his colleagues in the orchestra and the audience witnessing the performance, but also for himself as a man and a musician, and the family dependent on his earnings, some of whom will one day follow him into the profession. How we wait can have a huge impact on the course of our own lives, and those of others.

Scripture tells us that patience is a quality that the Lord both models towards us and wants us to develop. He is the ultimate example of patience, so He can train us in it: growing in patience is part of what it means to become more like Christ.[1]

Simply part of the profession

Being a musician demands, and therefore develops, patience – you may already have more of it than you think you do!

Performers experience waiting during every gig: for your slot in a programme; for a conductor or leader to cue a choral or orchestral entry, or a jazz solo; for colleagues to be ready; for the audience to stop shuffling or (hopefully) applauding. Some have to wait more than others. As a baroque cellist I had very few bars’ rest (which brought its own challenges), but brass players and percussionists often sit through almost an entire symphony, waiting to play.

Musicians also have to wait for work to come in: for the messages from fixers, agents, or prospective students that give shape to our diaries and relief to our budgets. You may be waiting right now for the outcome of auditions and applications which could extend your studies, provide your next career move, or enable you to realise a creative vision.

Often, we have little or no personal control over things we wait for. In a highly competitive profession, success often depends as much on who else applies, or the tastes and priorities of a judging panel, as on your own talent and preparation. If you’re sick or injured, waiting for healing before you can resume your livelihood, while you can promote recovery by diligently following medical advice, you can’t make it happen according to your own timetable.

Many people working in the arts and in education long for changes of culture and policy, of institutional management or of government. We all long for an end to the political and military conflicts and environmental disasters afflicting nations around the world. And as Christians, we pray for renewal in our churches, families, and communities, for the salvation of friends, loved ones and strangers, and ultimately for the total redemption and transformation that only Jesus’s return will bring. With the best will in the world, none of these things is instantly achievable or resolvable. In all these situations, we have to have patience.

What patience is, and is not

Patience is sometimes characterised as a passive quality, as if being patient means just sitting still, tuning out, doing nothing. That’s not what the Bible teaches. Christians wait for God’s Kingdom to come, for Jesus to return, for the ultimate renewal and redemption of the heavens and the earth; we wait to see our Bridegroom face to face, and to know Him fully, even as we are fully known.[2] This is not like waiting for a bus, or sitting in the dentist’s anteroom. We are certain that what we wait for will happen (though we don’t know exactly how or when), and we are certain it will be for our ultimate good, no matter what trials we have to face in the meantime.[3]

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. … Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.
– 1 Peter 3:9,15

The story of God’s patience with humanity has generated millennia of personal testimony and cultural change – He certainly hasn’t been doing nothing all this time. Jesus’ agonising death on the cross was the ultimate expression of God’s patience with you and me – and it was not passive or involuntary: Jesus actively chose to endure the cross, out of obedience and love, for our salvation.[4] And that’s why He and His apostles were very clear that His followers were not to sit around doing nothing between His first and second coming.[5] We have plenty to think about, and plenty to do!

So, patience is not resignation, or mindless inertia. It may involve periods of stillness and reflection, but that in itself takes effort and intentionality.[6] Consider the other words that sometimes appear in the Bible in combination with (or as synonyms for) patience: forbearance, persistence, endurance, perseverance, longsuffering.[7] Though not exact synonyms, these reflect different aspects of godly patience, and all involve faith expressed through intention, decision, and action.

A battle for your heart and mind

One further comment is necessary when discussing patience, which is that although it is not specifically mentioned by Paul in his description of the armour of God in Ephesians 6, it is nevertheless a major weapon in the spiritual battle.

Consider: when we see Jesus wrestle with the enemy (chiefly in the time of tempting by the devil and in the Garden of Gethsemane), He’s alone, exhausted, hungry, grieving, and waiting on His Father to reveal the next step.[8] Here's the point: any prolonged experience of being in physical, material or emotional need, pain or weakness is inevitably hard, lonely, boring and frustrating, and the enemy likes to target these times of waiting: tempting us to focus on what we lack instead of being thankful for what we have, and to satisfy our immediate desires for comfort or stimulation in ways that dishonour God or distract us from His presence and purposes. Waiting is not a neutral state – it’s a constant battle for your heart and mind. And this is why patience is so important.

Waiting is not a neutral state – it’s a constant battle for your heart and mind.

It's easy, when waiting, to feel frustrated, especially if the waiting involves pain, and the temptation to resort to various coping mechanisms is significant. However, turning to fruitless, potentially sinful distractions makes that situation worse, not better.

When you are suffering and waiting, what do you fill your heart and mind with? If it’s not Jesus, there’s a problem. This is true for whatever worldly comfort or distraction tempts you: food, alcohol, sport, social media, shopping, gaming, even music. Please don’t misunderstand me here – God is not against relaxation, refreshment and enjoyment of the world He has given us,[9] but even good things, taken to excess or given undue priority, can become idols that displace God from our minds, hearts and lives.[10]

Unhelpful habits are challenging to break and replace with good ones, but we are not alone in the battle for godly waiting – God understands and sympathises with our weakness, His Spirit is with us, and His truth arms us.[11] When we ask forgiveness for letting idols take His place, pray for their hold on us to be broken, and ask for wisdom, strength and self-control to reorder our lives, God hears. And He does not expect us to become patient overnight – however, as one of the fruits of the Spirit, patience is a quality He promises to sow and grow in us, as we remain in Him.[12]

Let's look at three forms of patience in more detail for the musician: perseverance, forbearance, and longsuffering.

Perseverance for the musician

Waiting always involves delayed gratification – you cannot have what you want right now, so you face the hard choice to do the right thing in the present moment, though it doesn’t immediately bring success or make you feel better. Musicians especially need this form of patience, that shows itself in diligent, disciplined perseverance with the routine, repetitive tasks of our profession. Examples include physical exercises to avoid or manage injury; cleaning and maintaining instruments; reed-making; keeping tax accounts updated; maintaining online profiles; and of course, practising fundamental techniques: scales, bowing, rudiments, buzzing, tonguing, circular breathing. These tasks can feel dull, onerous, lonely and unsatisfying, but they are essential if you want to maximise your progress towards excellence, invest your talent in creatively and reliably serving others – and get paid. Musicians must develop the patience to keep on daily investing time and energy in these tasks, in faith that their efforts will prove worthwhile in the long term.

There are many spiritual parallels with this kind of patience. Scripture calls us repeatedly to persevere: in prayer, thanksgiving, meeting together, doing good, and witnessing to the lost.[13] Here, the constructive disciplines of a musician’s life can be really helpful: if you’ve already trained yourself to take sound teaching to heart and put it into practice, to regularly revisit and rehearse the fundamentals, to work diligently on the tough stuff rather than skating over it, to be self-aware and evaluate your own progress, you are well-equipped to extend this approach to the spiritual disciplines of regular, committed Bible study, prayer, worship, fellowship and service.

Forbearance for the musician

We are often called to be patient with other people – to bear with their faults, fears and failures, and to forbear (hold back, refrain) - from reacting in angry, bitter or unkind ways, or from abandoning a difficult situation instead of carefully, sacrificially working to resolve it.[14]

The greatest thing I’ve gained from teaching children and adults to play the cello is a deeper appreciation for the remarkable patience of my own teachers, especially Jesus! My pupils don’t always pay attention or practise the techniques I show them, so don’t always progress as well as they might. It’s easy to feel frustrated by that – but whenever I’m tempted to lose my temper or lose heart, Jesus reminds me, 'Have patience with them, as I have patience with you.'[15] He understands exactly how it feels when learners are slow to get the message, fail to put it into practice, or outright reject it.[16]

Musicians also need patience with professional colleagues: desk partners, conductors, fixers, accompanists, bandmates, sound engineers. It can be even harder to have patience with peers than with pupils, because we have higher expectations of those we consider our equals in ability or experience. In this context, patience doesn’t mean being a doormat or failing to challenge wrong attitudes and behaviour, but thinking before you speak and giving constructive feedback, praying for people, having compassion for their struggles and showing mercy to them, because mercy has been shown to you.[17]

Indeed, God Himself is the ultimate example of generous, compassionate patience, in His mercy and grace towards you and His persistence in pursuing you. God has told us again and again what is true and right, but we keep on ignoring and disobeying Him - we fully deserve for Him to lose patience with us, let us feel the full force of His just wrath and cut us off from relationship with Him forever. Yet He doesn’t – and if that doesn’t blow your mind, just pause and let it sink in again. Not only does God not write us off, He keeps on seeking us, calling us, teaching us, forgiving us, restoring us, rescuing us, partnering with us – loving us.[18] The first step in learning to enact patience towards others is to be overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for His patience towards you – as Jesus expressed it, to recognise the totally unpayable scale of your debt to God, and the size of the plank in your own eye.[19]

The first step in learning to enact patience towards others is to be overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for His patience towards you

Longsuffering for the musician

My whole adult life, I’ve suffered with a chronic pain and fatigue condition that I’ve been trying to manage, without fully understanding. I’ve experienced multiple repetitive strain injuries to my neck, shoulders, arms and hands from playing and transporting my cello;[20] but although overuse makes my pain worse, inactivity doesn’t make it better. I haven’t played regularly for years but I’m still in pain throughout my body, accompanied by muscle weakness, poor sleep, fatigue, vertigo, headaches, and difficulty regulating my body temperature. Occasionally, intense symptoms trigger distressing flashbacks or episodes causing me to vomit and go into shock. Over years and months I’ve waited for referrals, appointments, test results and prescriptions. Getting a diagnosis took twenty years; now I have it, it’s unlocked some support, but no cure. Every day I wait, sometimes in vain, for medication to kick in, exercise to bring relief, brain fog to clear, depression to lift, until I feel well enough to get focused work done or relaxed enough to sleep. This situation has affected my work and limited my income; being in financial need adds stress and prevents me accessing resources and treatments that could help.

As mentioned above, in such times of pain, the temptation is always to distract myself through various coping mechanisms, but what I need most to help me wait well, think constructively about my waiting and break free of false refuges in the present, is hope for the future. Genuine hope, the assurance that what I wait for is real, is worth waiting for, and is guaranteed, is the best possible source of motivation to be patient, and wait actively and positively.

And of course, real, eternal hope is found only in Jesus. In the prophetic words of Job, that I’ve often accompanied in the wonderful soprano aria from Handel’s Messiah:

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.[21]

This is the powerful, certain hope of the gospel. If you are a musician currently suffering, perhaps something small, perhaps something so big that it may redefine your entire career and thus the trajectory of your life, then here is where you must focus: that in Christ your redeemer, you have a real, glorious, eternal hope. As Paul famously wrote to encourage persecuted Christians in Rome:

Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
– Romans 8:18

Because Jesus died and rose again, I will be raised to new life, body and soul, will meet the Lord and Saviour who loves me unconditionally, and will be with Him forever.

Many of the things we wait for, including many of our musical dreams and ambitions, we may never receive in this life. This can be tough, and only the Lord knows all the reasons for this, but two things are certain:

Through keeping us waiting, the Lord desires to teach us patience.
He has promised that ultimately, He will meet all my needs in Jesus.[22]

Sure, having the certain hope of future joy and security in Christ does not make us immune to the pain of waiting now, and waiting for God's timing can be a constant battle (indeed, witness the disastrous consequences for those who were impatient - think Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16 & 21, or the sailors transporting Paul to Rome in Acts 27). However, we do not wait alone. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and times of waiting give us opportunities to know God in new and deeper ways.

If we are believers, then as God's children, adopted into His family, we are guaranteed a glorious inheritance - God promises us Himself. Through Jesus, we inherit relationship with the Father, the only true source of life and love. Although we have to wait to see everything that means come to fruition, it’s already guaranteed by the Holy Spirit, and we can experience what it means to be God’s children and heirs, even in the midst of our waiting. We can call God 'Abba, Father,' right now.[23]

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
– Lamentations 3:24

Fixing our eyes on the Conductor

So what will this look like for us specifically as musicians? Well, there's so much that could be said, but just one thing we can do is seek to learn from the patience that music-making itself teaches us. So, in a period of waiting mid-performance, you might:

Count – be aware of the passing of time: it is finite, which means your situation is temporary; there is a plan and a structure to what is unfolding and there will be a right time to act or respond. (NB this isn’t the same as clock-watching – you’re not wishing the time away, but acknowledging there is purpose and order to it.)
Listen and watch – don’t fall asleep or lose yourself in unhelpful thoughts or activities, pay attention and keep alert for the signals that will tell you when your waiting is over, and what your next step should be.
Prepare – do what you can, while waiting, to bring your body, mind and spirit into a state of readiness to face whatever God sets before you.

I think again of Teddy the timpanist, motionless and silent at the back of the orchestra while his colleagues play on, minute after minute. What keeps him still, focused, present, patient? It’s not, primarily, the fear of making a fool of himself and losing his job. He is able to wait, because he can look past the movements marked ‘TACET’ to see that his time will come; he still has a part to play that he considers worthwhile and will relish doing well. Beyond that, he knows that soon, his work will be over and he can go home, to comfort and love and rest and refreshment. He is looking forward to it, both temporally and emotionally; he knows the wait will be worth it.[24] Although life is perhaps more like a free jazz performance than a symphony – none of us knows how long our waiting will last or exactly what lies ahead of us – we have the privilege of knowing and trusting the One who has composed and is conducting this great work. If we keep our eyes fixed on Him, we won’t miss our cue.

We have the privilege of knowing and trusting the One who has composed and is conducting this great work.

What are you waiting for? Have you realised that Jesus has both gone ahead of you to prepare a place for you, and by His Spirit, is waiting with you?[25] Are you mindful of and thankful for His infinite patience with you? Are you asking Him to show you where to persevere in waiting, and where to let go of things that may not, in fact, be worth holding out for? Are you asking Him to teach you how to wait well?

Throughout life, there is one thing you need never wait to do – turn to Jesus, again and again, as many times as you need to. Your Lord and Saviour is patiently waiting, arms open, for you.

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[1] 1 Peter 3:3-10; 1 Timothy 1:15-16; Colossians 1:9-11; James 5:7-9.

[2] Matthew 6:10, 24:30-31, 42-44; Romans 8:19-23; 1 Corinthians 13:12.

[3] Hebrews 11:1, 13-16, 39-40; Ephesians 1:3-14; 1 Peter 1:3-9.

[4] Isaiah 53:7-10; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 12:2.

[5] Mark 13:32-37; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 4:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Isaiah 58:6-10; James 1:22-27; Romans 12:6-13; Matthew 25:1-13, 28:18-20; Acts 1:8.

[6] Psalm 119:147-148; Daniel 6:10; Matthew 6:6, 14:23; John 6:15.

[7] Compare, for example, the NIV, ESV, NKJV: Romans 2:4, 7, 3:25, 5:3-4, 15:4-5; 2 Corinthians 1:6; Colossians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 6:11; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:3-4; Revelation 14:12.