Category Archives: Philosophy

The Crucible

Posted on by
1

crucibleThere’s a book that says mastery in any field comes after 10,000 hours of practice. The question arises: practice of what?

When it comes to technique, some of that time has to be spent in the “crucible” — which is to say, performance at your highest level. (Not noodling around playing background music for a tea party, or drilling Segovia scales while watching House.) In the crucible your body will produce an adaptive response. You can try to simulate the crucible by practicing with all your might, but it doesn’t work as well as the real thing.

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of the things Rey de la Torre told me was that Segovia used to go straight back to his hotel after a concert to work out technical matters while the iron was still hot, while Rey would grab some friends and go out on the town after a concert.

I know from my own experience that an hour giving a solo concert in front of a large and attentive audience was worth 10 hours of playing in a noisy restaurant, and worth 20 hours of practice. Maybe more. And that if I would go home and work on my guitar playing right after a good performance, while I was still hot, my results were always much better for it.

Intensity, not extensity, leads to the adaptive response. I’d fill that 10,000 hours with plenty of intensity

Jennifer Lopez Connects

Posted on by
Reply

j-loJ-Lo? What’s she got to do with guitar playing?

Here’s a great remark from Jennifer Lopez to American Idol contestant James Durbin, as observed by New York Times Arts Beat blogger Jon Caramanica:

“You go away when you sing,” Ms. Lopez told him affectionately. “I got that sense you sing from a really different place than a lot of people we see.” Later, she declared, “You sing from where you’re supposed to sing from — from feeling, from heart, from your soul, from the need to feel and make others feel.” It’s a fundamental of great artistry, that the ability to connect is intimately tied to the need for connection, though it’s rarely articulated this succinctly.

Sometimes we make little effort to connect, when we could be aiming to play “from feeling, from heart, from the soul, from the need to feel and make others feel.”

Bellamente dijo.

Seasick Steve

Posted on by
1

There’s a great guitar lesson here for any guitar player. In this beautiful example of “less is more,” Seasick Steve delivers the Hank Williams classic I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.

After that there’s a short documentary film the gives a glimpse into the life of this ex-hobo who suddenly, at the age of 65, with his three-string guitar, hit the big time.

“Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don’t look for work, and bums are people who don’t move and don’t work. I’ve been all three.”

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I’m so lonesome I could cry

I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves began to die?
That means he’s lost the will to live
I’m so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry

Enjoying the Journey

Posted on by
1

I’ve said it many times over the years: The most important thing I want to accomplish with students is for them to develop a happy life-long relationship with the guitar.

Well, I got a nice email yesterday…

John,

Stroll through my house and you’ll hear my son playing the piano or guitar, my youngest daughter singing at the top of her lungs, and for most of 2010 me working on Bach’s Chaconne, and from time to time my oldest daughter playing piano.

All that to say that music is a dominant force in the life of my family. My youngest is involved with a youth theater doing 3 musicals a year. My son just finished there and is now going to be a music director. He’s working on a music degree and may become a choir teacher. He loves music theory and is dreaming. (He and a friend started a production company — whatever that means). My oldest daughter is a pretty good pianist looking forward to starting piano lessons again. My wife is the Area Coordinator for the drama group and as the only non-musician in the family was the driving force for piano/clarinet/guitar/voice lessons.

Years ago, I wondered how I would get my kids not to walk away from music as I did when I was 14. I never figured out a plan, but they watched me play at home and perform. I think that gave them the spark to stay at it. We didn’t go on great vacations or have the latest video games because $ went to lessons (6 different lessons at one point) and went to buy or rent instruments. None of them would have done it differently.

Anyway, I was just thinking about the part you played in inspiring me and again wanted to say thanks. I have three kids whose lives have been, and will continue to be impacted by music. Never mind the kids, I was just playing and reflecting on how much I love to play.

By the way, about a year and a half ago my son picked up my Villa-Lobos book and in a week’s time read through Prelude 1 and had it memorized. Kind of surprising since he didn’t have any need to read guitar music before (gifted reader on piano though). He learned on his electric guitar and played it for me on a classical guitar. He played through every once in a while and then played it in a district music competition just over a year ago. He won for classical guitar which qualified him to compete at state… which he won. Then he played for about 4500 people at graduation. I would have been petrified and he was excited. Good night!

So again, thanks. You did a great job as my teacher and those lessons have lived on. One thing I learned from you was that I could play whatever. I have learned the Chaconne from just opening the music and going to work and I don’t think I would have figured that out if you hadn’t shown great works.

I hope you are doing well!

B-