Now is the Only Time I Have to Practice.

Sometimes I suppose it is fine to give into my tiredness on a Friday night,  and let go of practicing.  But tonight is not going to be one of those nights.  Seldom is actually, I love to begin my weekend with embracing music.  I've been home from work for hours.  I have rested, had a delightful dinner prepared for me, organized paperwork and had a wonderful walk along Sligo Creek.  Plus I have a three day weekend in front of me.  To the guitar, Now!

I refuse to give into the resistance.  If you have not read nor listened to Steven Pressfields classic The War of Art get to Amazon and get a copy.  I particularly love the gruffness of his voice on the recording and the frankness of his prose.  If I don't practice Now, when will I?

Just writing about my resistance earlier, I felt energized.  The blockage had a chink and I picked up my guitar.  Beginning with an ear training exercise, I then began to improvise.  Just having fun, I allowed years of work to guide my hands.  Twenty-five minutes passed and I took a short break.  Heading back down now.  Truly, Now is the only time I have to practice.


photo credit: www.dirkloop.com

The Stretch

Towards the end of my practice on Monday I played a C# sus4 chord against an open C. I liked how it sounded and played around with it. Moved to another chord that I could tell was outside the scale of  the first chord so I did a little work with pitch inventory. Decided I was working around C phyrgian with the first chord and what google told me was a Romanian Major scale with the second.

Looked at this again yesterday and was still intrigued with it. Had read about Verdi's C Enigmatic scale so I moved the melodies in that direction. Now what the hell did I think I was doing? This is a new approach for me and decided that if nothing else I might learn something. I played around with it again this afternoon, trimming some notes, altering their values, but I was still unclear.

After a long walk in the surf I  jotted the following in my journal:
What is going on with these 3 scales. I am wondering if this melody was conveying any emotion or just an intellectual exercise. Perhaps this was a path that would lead to another path. What is certain is that I am probing; stretching my knowledge a bit. In itself this is worthy. All efforts interpenetrate all other efforts. One act of learning supports all acts of learning.

After dinner I posted the following status on FaceBook - " Returning to some melodies that are stretching me. While I know this is good, one part of me would rather leave it be and do something easy." Once again resistance rear's it's ugly little head. I've been discussing this with my wife lately and she wrote a post on being Comfortable With Discomfort earlier today. So I nudged forward. Played through the melodies with attention and heard what is there. At one point I found my body a bit tangled up.

I put down my guitar and thought through the Alexander Technique directions. Freeing up my body I then told myself that I am free to write this piece. Eventually the next section was revealed to me. Again due to poor use of self I was tense. After a short walk, this section was taken a bit further and I found a connection to the beginning of the piece. My left hand was tired and it was getting late so I let go for tonight. I did an AT lie down and then began writing. A great day in the creative life. Something learned physically, mentally, & emotionally.

To rest.

Resistance

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoutedrop/4116208080/

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

                                                                  Andre Gide  

How much effort is required to move a guitar pic 0.32 hundreths of an inch?

To vibrate the piece of metal known as my A string this is all the resistance that need to be overcome.

Or is it?

What doe it take to pick up the guitar on a regular basis? 

Most mornings when I wake I resist my practice of Qi Gong, which astounds me to this day. Just a few minutes into my Qi Gong practice and my body comes alive, the energy begins to enliven me and I think how could I not do this?

Yet the next day, my resistance surfaces.

So I move my body to the living room and begin my practice again. Within 15 minutes I am happy. On days when I have more time to devote to this practice, the benefits  continue to increase.

Yet the next day a minor amount of resistance surfaces again.

Fortunately I do not experience resistance to playing my guitar. However for me to practice certain aspects of music there is resistance. Oftentimes I find it hard to gear my practice to aspects of music I find  difficult. Yet when I do, not only this  area of musicianship, but my playing in general improves. 

Am I listening?

While The Borg say "Resistance is futile," I counter that resistance is inevitable, but not insurmountable.