Mandolin

I'm learning to play the mandolin. There -- I've said it. I don't think I've learned to play a new instrument since, gosh, 1981 maybe when I started studying flute with my mom. It's really weird to learn a new instrument as an adult. You EXPECT a 6 year old to sound creaky and inaccurate when playing a new instrument, but adults are supposed to be polished and smooth. I'm treating it as a spiritual discipline. If I've learned anything from yoga it is the power of the regular practice to train muscles and mind over time. If I can learn to stand on my head as an adult, surely I can learn to play the mandolin, right? Surely if I just repeat the things I know, and some new things on my edge, eventually transformation will happen, right? Surely after 19 years of music lessons, including 5 years of University and conservatory study, surely I know something about how to repeat and refine until a thing is pleasant to listen to? I try to have this faith, because I know sure as I know my own name that between the first thrill of picking up my new instrument, and playing something that is pleasing to hear will be a long journey.