Tuning pins, I think they call them. Those tiny knobs you twist to wind the strings and pull them taut. I was always fascinated by folks who did this, ear to the strings. They would pluck and turn, pluck and turn, listening for just the right pitch.

Are there really people like this? Who have perfect pitch hearing? Who can apply just the right tension to a string to make it vibrate with just the right frequency to make just the right sound when played?

Or is fine tuning a life’s work? Turning that pin, stretching, pulling, releasing, plucking. Preparing ourselves to be played by the hand of the Maestro. A symphony so marvelous we cannot imagine it.

But for now, we listen and twist. Listen and pull. Listen and pluck. Listen and play.

I must not neglect the playing. In it I find that perfect pitch is not so loose that I might slip or so taut that I might break but somewhere mid-way. Balanced. Toned. Fearless.