I have very much enjoyed working my way through the book, playing pieces that I think sound good. Some of it is beyond my ability, and I hack through it the best I can. After not playing for 27 years, I am amazed that I can still play any of it.
There is a fundamental difference between playing classical music and playing jazz. Jazz music has boundaries, not rules. As long as you stay within the boundaries, anything goes. The point to playing jazz is to be creative, spontaneous and interpretive. The idea is to express oneself and (again, within the boundaries) play your heart out.
Classical music is different. The issue here is to express the music - appropriately and exactly as it was designed and written to be expressed. The objective is to honor the music and the composer (creator) by performing it to the level of proficiency and standard for which it was composed.
There is room for both in the world of music, but there is an absolute distinction between the two. The principle, which deserves much more thought and comment that I can provide here, applies to a whole bunch of different paradigms in life. Jazz is about expressing myself musically. Classical music is all about the music. This distinction and contradiction applies to religion and our relationship with God, to work, to marriage, raising kids, and a whole lot more. Knowing the difference between Jazz and Classical music, and knowing when use each approach is a really important life skill.
But my point for today is just how good I felt this morning playing Melodious Etude No. 11. When you play a piece like that really well - above your own ability. When it sounds and feels just perfect, it gives you goose bumps. At the end of it this morning, I actually cried a little. It was so right. And nothing in a world based on this music can ever be that wrong.
This is why I bought a trombone.
Feels almost as good as getting licked by a horse!