Ghost Play

Learning to play an Alberti bass has its challenges:

Keeping an even tempo, make sure fingers five and one stay light.

Put your left hand on the table

Finger five is your pinky; one, the thumb

Move your hand in this pattern:

5-1-3-1, 5-1-3-1, 4-1-2-1, 5-1-3-1

Sometimes, one has to “ghost play” on the keyboard

moving fingers without letting the hand drop any weight or sing

A fine, inobtrusive harmony will be the end result

Ghost playing—going through the motions without creating music

I catch myself in pretend mode

            in my marriage, my friendships, even in my worship

Just playing a part,

so no one will notice

that my harmony is less than it could be