It only takes a moment

It only takes a moment

By Stuart P. Rosenthal
Posted on July 31, 2024

Most of the time, for me at least, life just rolls along without any truly memorable moments.  

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy much about my life, including my work, my family and my free time. And I’m sure I learn new things every day. (Whether I remember them is another story.)  

But this summer, I’ve had some brief educational encounters that I think might well count as life-altering.  

I was approached recently by the founder of Rip Current Sports, swim coach Jose Gallagher, who wanted the Beacon to inform readers about a flotation device he developed. Coach Gallagher claimed it helps non-swimmers learn to swim and good swimmers learn to swim better.  

He pointed out what good exercise swimming is for people of any age, and that many older adults seem to have a fear of the water that keeps them from trying it. 

He couldn’t have known that he was describing me when he said that, but I’ve tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully since childhood to overcome my fears and become a decent swimmer.  

I never got anywhere with that as a kid, though I had more than one swim teacher try. In college, I just passed my swim course by managing to get once across the pool without drowning.  

I’ve since taken private swim lessons (when my kids were young, so they wouldn’t wonder why Daddy didn’t get in the pool with them) and an adult group class (where I started out way ahead of most of the others but wimped out when we moved to the deep end).   

So, when the coach offered to give me a lesson to show me how his device worked — and promised it would make me a better swimmer — I dove at the opportunity, so to speak.  

Once in the water, even before we got to the device, he made a couple of pointers that were “aha moments” for me.  

Now, maybe I had been told these things before and had forgotten. But when he explained that I was bending my feet in the wrong way as I kicked, I was amazed at the difference that simple correction made. 

My real problem, however, has always been breathing while doing the crawl. After a few strokes, I invariably end up with a mouth and/or nose full of water, choking and gasping for breath. 

That’s where his flotation paddles (he calls them “Dual Boards”) came in. Unlike a kickboard you hold in front of you, these are like small kickboards strapped to each of your hands. Holding one hand out in front of you and the other down at your side, for example, you can practice both kicking and breathing without fear of sinking.  

He encouraged me to take as long as I needed to breathe, experimenting with different angles to my head as the boards kept me afloat.  

After just a few minutes of practice, he had me take the boards off and try the crawl again. To my amazement, I found myself more comfortably breathing to the side — without the typical panic — and having moved much further down the pool with my newly corrected kick.  

It was a brief lesson, and I can’t say I have become a fearless or even good swimmer. But I was impressed by how a few minutes with a skilled instructor, coupled with what I might call “floating crutches,” could make such a difference. Now I find I actually look forward to swimming after my gym workouts.   

I also experienced epiphanies at “piano camp” this summer. Readers may recall my earlier columns about this one-week adult music program at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Pianists from all over the country come to learn from, and hear concerts by, great instructors and pianists.  

The camaraderie is very special there, and I truly enjoy the jazz lab, the educational lectures and the world-class performances by the faculty.   

But the most valuable aspect to me is the daily master class, where a few participants perform in front of the whole group a piece they have been working on. That day’s instructor spends a half hour or so pointing out to each performer ways to improve the result.

With each student, you see right in front of you how a skilled teacher can focus on a particular problem and adjust the player’s wrist and arm placement, propose a different fingering, or demonstrate a subtle emphasis in accent or tone and immediately transform the performance. 

As with the swim coach, in just a few minutes the teacher’s instructions enabled me to play passages that had been giving me trouble both more easily and more musically. You really know a teacher has made a difference when, after you replay a passage incorporating their advice, the audience erupts into applause.    

So, if you were to ask me, “How is your summer going?” I would have to say these last couple of weeks have been transformative.  

And it’s all due to a few special individuals who cared enough to share their expertise and, each in their own way, helped me see things in a different light, try something new and get “unstuck.”  

If (when?) you find yourself stuck in some way, I suggest you look for someone who can help you — whether one-on-one, in a group or online. I now know they are out there, eager to share their expertise. 

And perhaps you may even pay it forward, using your newfound (or longtime) expertise to help someone else overcome a limitation. (Someone who wants to get help, that is!)  

Either way, by learning or teaching, I wish you the deep pleasure of connecting and growing.  

For more about Dual Boards, visit RipCurrentSports.com. For more about Piano at Peabody, visit bit.ly/PeabodyPianoCamp.