An idea came to me, and I turned off the lights in the studio.In the darkness, I took off my shirt and took up the cello  ; it was the first time in my life I'd felt the instrument against my bare chest.I'd never thought about that; music scholars always talk about the resonating properties   of various instruments, but surely the performer's own body must have some effect on the sound.As I dug into the notes I imagined that my own chest and lungs were extensions of the sound box; I seemed to be able to change the sound by the way I sat, and by varying the muscular tightness in my upper body. After improvising for a while, I started playing, still in the darkness.I heard the music through my skin.For the first time I didn't think about how it would sound to anyone else, and slowly, joyfully, gratefully, I started to hear again.The notes sang out, first like a trickle:, then like a fountain of cool water bubbling up from a hole in the middle of a desert.After an hour or so I looked up, and in the darkness saw the outline of the cat sitting on the floor in front of me, cleaning her paws and purring loudly, I had an audience again, humble as it was. So that's what I do now with my cello.At least once a day I find time to tune it, close my eyes and listen.It's probably not going to lead to the kind of comeback I'd be thirsty for--years of playing badly have left scars on my technique--but I might eventually try giving a concert if I feel up to it. Occasionally I feel a stab of longing, and I wish I could give just one more concert on a great stage before my lights blink off, but that longing passes more quickly now.I take comfort in the fact that, unlike the way I felt before, I can enjoy playing for myself now.I feel relaxed and expansive when I play, as if I could stretch out my arms and reach from one end of the apartment to the other.A feeling of completeness and dignity surrounds me and lifts me up. The passage is mainly about   _  .
a musician playing the cello for an audience a musician's feelings when playing the cello a musician finding joy in playing music in a new way a musician's desire to return to his former profession