Yesterday's threads got me to thinking about the love of the artist for his or her materials and tools, here music. An annotated list (for fun):

1. Instruments - discussed yesterday, a bit, but there is much more -- the finding of the right instrument, the one that feels right, the one that needs slight improvements, the obstacles shaved off, the one that makes one comfortable, the one with a revered history, the vehicle for the sound, the voice, the rhythm, the experience.

2. The Body - the use of one's body as an instrument, or a "carrier" of music. Lots of people seem to get by with abusing their bodies, but assume the good use -- how to be balanced, how to relax, how to be appropriately tense, accurate, with the right muscles, the long training, the tiredness.

3. The Breath - Rhythm in voiced instruments, and of course the voice -- the breath as a bearer, as transparent, as safety net, as a signal that things are going right or wrong: from the diaphragm or tight in the neck.

4. The Sounds - what are the timbres, the best patterns, the odd extras that make one's own music: "this is how you make this sound". The sounds one gravitates towards -- this instrument makes this sound with my help, which is why I am here.

5. Relations -- the world between the giver and the receiver and back again. How does one work with, tune to, tune out, tune an audience.

Other materials, tools (at semi-random): time; rosin (helps to playing); books; sheet music (this is how you do tabs, etc.); other players; recording devices (this is how a sound happens in a studio); lovers; money.