Exercising

Development of the body. mind, or spirit requires exercise.  Gaining proficiency in a craft is attained by exercises passed on by the Masters, and applying them in your own voice.  This morning as I began to practice, a series of notes presented themselves to me.  Hearing the music within these notes I began to follow where they led.  At first this was relatively simple, but then we were stuck.

The whisper from the muse was gone, and I began to exercise what craft I have in composition.  Slowly, a piece was taking form.  In the act of taping what I had so far, a happy accident occurred and I found my way into the next section.  Slyly the creative process had whispered to me once again.  Moving forward I once again did not know how to proceed.  Time for an AT lie down.  My back was grateful as I sunk into the floor.  Taking this time to contemplate and relax my body, distracted my mind from the task at hand.

When I returned to the guitar, the next transition introduced themself to me and I followed along.  Close but no resolution, I took a break for coffee.  Auralizing what I had so far, I found myself humming a possible phrase.  Sure enough this worked and the piece and I continued developing.  Taping what I had and doing a rough notation, I then began tho play the piece again.  Now I found that the ending of the first phrase was being influenced by where the piece had developed to.  Again I followed, but with the changes made,  the next transition no longer worked.  Patiently finding a way to work this out, I smiled, knowing that this was one of those sessions where I was stretching my compositional abilities.  Exersing my capacity to listen and apply.  I just need to allow the process to unfold and weather this actually turns into a piece or just an extended effort is not the point.  Learning and growing as a musician requires exercising the various aspects of musicianship.  One poignant place in the process was adding in what I thought was a "wrong note."

But this "wrong note," was exactly what was needed in this point of the piece.  No need to think, just play, discover, and listen.

What is a Good Note?

I was flipping through Robert Henri's The Art Spirit before I began my guitar practice tonight.  This book has more pieces of paper sticking out of it then any book on art theory that I own. So many great thoughts that apply to any creative process.  Henri had a connection with his muse on all levels that I admire.  He was more than capable to express his connection in words.  He says: " A line is not good because it is like a line. A line is good because of it's relations to other lines ..."

Does this not hold true for a note?  One note can be beautiful, powerful, & true which is a testament to the player; but where does one note take us?  An inspired moment perhaps, but this same note related to other notes, has the power of all of the notes and their relationships to inspire, transform, and transcend our world.

Holding these thoughts, I quietly moved my arms in the manner of Qi Gong, but with no specific form in mind.  As I opened my case, I knew I would begin with the Berio exercise to play the same note 11 different ways. This simple exercise aligns my listening and playing faster than any other exercise I know.   As I played with this exercise, I decided I would work on the intro to Stepping Stones next, as there are many long notes in the introduction of this piece.  I enjoyed playing with these notes, savoring the making of the sounds while listening to them, feeling the power in their relationships.  Noticing how a change in timbre or volume of one note affected all the others before and after.

When I decided to play through the piece, I noticed my mind had begun to chatter as I was playing the arpeggios in the second section.  Then the thought arrived "When playing the guitar - play the guitar." Alone or on stage isn't this enough?  A glimpse of Mastery perhaps? As I applied this thought to my playing, I played.

Sanctify the Space

Often I begin my time with my guitar by playing the first piece of music that ever came to me - A Journeyman's Way Home. I had been challenged to perform at each meal of a particular Guitar Craft Course in March of 1989. I could not play guitar at this time and thinking of my favorite person in the world then and now, Joann,  a simple beautiful piece emerged. This morning I was reading Pedro De Alcantara's excellent Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique and he mentions that Pablo Casals would begin his practice sessions by playing Bach as this "sanctified the house."

A wonderfully appealing notion that fits and supports my own practice. So today I played Journeyman's as a beginning; recalling and reclaiming the innocence, enthusiasm, and wonder of that first magical moment when music whispered in my ear. From this space, I moved to playing with a scale - C hijaz. I made this musical, not just a mechanical training of my fingers. I was also using a plectrum from having played Journeyman's and was delighted to what is available to me with this right hand method that I rarely employ anymore. I switched to a finger style exploration of the scale and noted the differences in timbre, speed, and accuracy. Drawing from my recent Alexander Technique lesson I allowed space beneath my arm pits.

I have come to this area of my use frequently since my last session with David. To one that is not versed in AT this may seem trivial and unrelated to guitar playing. Yet allowing awareness to this space around my arms in general has offered me freedom lately. I moved onto working with the harmonics in Dandelion Wish using an exercise I garnered from Pedro's Indirect Procedures. Recently I have applied this particular exercise to Matka Boska and  Stepping Stones and am finding it t be very useful.

The exercise is to introduce a rest on the second beat of a measure. Then play the rest of the measure and the first beat of the following measure. Continue through the section you are working with or an entire piece in this manner. I have found this to be challenging and fruitful. I have to really know the piece to keep introducing these rests and in doing so I find my awareness of what I am doing in the moment deepening. The rest also disrupts what habits I have built into my execution of the music and allows for a moment to direct my use.

Working with Dandelion Wish in this manner was not only fun but freeing. With the exception of the added rest, I worked to play the rest of the phrase in tempo and an intensity consistent with which how I would perform the piece. Thus working with my use in a musical manner. The results as with my work on Matka and  Stepping Stones has been worthwhile.

So back to practice, then to rest. I am still recovering from my second procedure this time on my right leg for varicose veins.

Forty minutes later.

From this space I returned to working with Dandelion and played around with the use of my hands as I approach the guitar and also with the rhythm & phrasing of this section. Progress continues. I moved onto look at Broken Wing the new piece emerging in memory of my dear friend Jay Bott. From this space of fun and exploration I played with the beginning of the piece and am allowing the piece to grow and flow. His Memorial Service is later today, so now I must introduce a rest for myself and let go of practice so that I can attend to this properly. As I shared last night - Enjoy what you are doing right now. This moment is all that matters, ever.