Two Hours

 Two hours of guitar practice per day did not seem unreasonable when I made the commitment, but some days it takes until 10:30 to get it done. This was one of those days. Other practices, meetings, exercise and family time must be honored also. I am a fortunate, but tired man.

Be the Note

 Today was a day where my attention was on the music of life. Today is one of those milestone Birthdays for my wife. Lots of last minute stuff getting older people the technical help they need for posting to a Kudo Board and Zoom. Family and friends have been so sweet and supportive in the spirit of celebrating her. Harmony has arisen between some dissonant players as a result. That’s the best notes of all.

Photo by Rose Nitely

Diving In

I Found a photocopied page from W. A. Mathieu’s book Harmonic Experience that I have worked with at various times to little avail. The page is from a chapter titled Dronality in  Equal Temperament: Mixed Modes.  Blending Mixolydian, Harmonic Minor and the Phrygian Mode. I know I’m in over my head. Smiling I dove in one more time. The following came out after a couple hours exploring options. 

Maybe I should go back to page 1 of this book someday, instead of opening it up every few years. But hey Life is short.

Photo by Jim Bahn

Being Available

 Music is a benevolent presence constantly and readily available to all, but we are not constantly and readily available to music. From an Introduction to Guitar Craft.

As a musician, a guitarist my work is to make myself available. This can take many forms. All is interconnected. My morning practices inform my ability to be present. These practices nourish my energy. How I do one thing, open my case, carry my guitar and take a seat on my chair make a difference. When I honor my commitments over time I prepare this musician for those moments when music whispers.

I still need to honor my guitar practice commitment so back to work.

Photo by Mike Lawerence

Focus

Morning practice set the tone for my day. As we completed our Qi Gong practice my wife choose Focus as the word for today. With this as my guide I honed in on the subtleties of When Am I? Also focused on some difficult transitions in Searching. An email arrived with a challenge from one of the members of the Ravens which had me hooking up some effects to a mixer in the basement. I'll see what arises. Been a long time since I played with effects but always did love the process. 

A session led my Curt Golden in the afternoon gave me some ideas to pursue that will strengthen melodic construction. Great to have some many people in my wife that work at their craft and generously share with others. After dinner I taught our Five Animal Play Qi Gong class and have one to teach for the AAD in the morning. Life is good. Need to get in 10 more minutes of practice before bedtime.

Image by John Goalby

Music Needs An Audience

 An idea arose over the weekend to schedule more online performances. A weekly series of solo sets and other artists joining so that each week would be different. Stay tuned. 

Honoring Commitments

On Wednesday 1/20/21an International At A Distance Guitar Course began that I am participating in. My commitment to my guitar practice for the duration through 2/28/21 is to practice 2 hours per day. Normally this is not a problem for me.

But today … I practiced an hour in the morning. It was good. Then some important tasks needed to be addressed. Which of course took longer than expected. A wonderful walk with family for a couple hours. A nap. Dinner. Then my regular commitment to practicing with the Washington Mindfulness Community. Suddenly it is 8pm. I’m tired. And I still need to honor the other hour of practice. The resistance began rationalizing.  For the first 20 minutes my practice was great. Moving forward on learning the ending of When Am I?, the guitar was sounding great. Pride swelled a bit at my tenacity of putting in my other hour. A short break and then the middle hit. Negative thoughts, poor execution of the notes and on and on.

Experience told me to simply persist. While being gentle with myself I knew the middle would pass and it did. Normally I do not practice when I’m this tired, but the practice of honoring commitments is vital to success. 

As the Guitar Craft aphorism states: With commitment all the rules change. 

Photo by Tim