It took several years to understand the difference between practice and rehearsal. We practice to build skills. We rehearse for a performance.
Musicians practice scales and rehearse songs. Études blur that—music written for students to improve skills. And great études are performed, not just practiced.
Martial artists practice forms, linking individual punches, kicks, blocks into sequences. They perform forms in contests. And a fragment of a form may appear in an unrehearsed fight. Or the form may have come from a historic fight.
When I sit quietly in meditation practice, I am building a skill, strengthening attention.
Life is what happens when we are making other plans.
Rehearsing for a future that did not happen.
In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. — Eric Hoffer
At choir practice tonight, I will rehearse Sunday\’s expected hymns, knowing performance is always \”as the Spirit moves.\”