Meco

The challenge was given to the course in Tepoztlan.  Since I'm participating at a distance, I received the challenge late. Still I made their challenge mine.  Learning and a new piece will come into being. I'll fret and push, but I'll have a new solo piece ready to perform by Sunday night.

The journey may be coarse, wild; and the obstacles thick, but Meco will arrive. 

Photo by Rui Orenlas.

Standing, Just Standing

I stand before my guitar in reverence, for those that have come before me.

I stand before these craftsmen that instruct me, hoping & working to approach their diligence.

I stand in awe of the Creative.

In humility of all that is.

Of all I do not know nor understand.

I ask for help.

Photo by Jon Martin.

Keep On Stumbling

In the brush doing what it's doing, it will stumble on what one couldn't do by oneself.
- Robert Motherwell

Same holds true for fingers and why improvisation is important.  The mind can lead, as does the heart; but many times it is that stumble of the fingers that finds the chord or notes the mind would not choose.  Keep listening to the stumbles.  Plunge in.  Expect nothing, but listen.  When it's there, be grateful.

 

Opportunities to Cultivate Freedom

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out. Thich Naht Hahn

During my morning sitting, I came into a relationship with my body.  Developing this relationship can take many forms.  This morning as I sensed my body, I began using the Alexander Technique directions.  Using these simple thoughts of allowing my neck to be free, my spine and back- long and wide, my shoulders wide, and my legs long to introduce freedom in my body.  I moved on to other aspects of my sitting practice and then towards the end of the sitting the Alexander Technique arose in my mind again.  Soon I will be standing.  How will I arrive there?  This is a basic activity we do every day, move from a seated position to standing.  This is also an activity addressed in ATclasses & lessons to illustrate and facilitate freedom in our movement.  The next question that arose was "how many times today will I get out of a chair?"

No idea.  What if I set myself the task of pausing before standing; come back to a relationship with myself, utilize the AT directions and move to standing with awareness?  Might I then step into more freedom throughout my day?  So far I have remembered twice and am soon to rise again, hopefully with awareness.  I'll leave a comment at days end as to how often I remembered.  There is no right answer.  The practice of cultivating of freedom, waking up in any moment, is what is pertinent.  Do to the nature of interbeing, as I cultivate this freedom, it will spread.

Photo by Tom Landretti.

Doing the Work

Yesterday was very productive for me.  I had many personal items to address.  All of these took longer than I anticipated as is the nature of life. After dinner I had a brief nap with the intention of putting in my 2 hours of guitar work afterward.  I was awakened from the nap by a friend in need. I was happy to respond but did not arrive back home until 9:15 pm.

After a snack and brief conversation with my wife, I went to work at 9:35 pm. I had made a commitment to practice guitar two hours a day while participating with The Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists XI - Preparation Course at a distance.The first hour was relatively easy.  After a five minute break I resumed, looking at the clock and feeling sleepy. At 10:55 pm I paused to do an Alexander Technique lie down.  Oh did my body need this, want this, and then the urge to crawl into bed was so so strong.  At 11:05 pm I was back on my stool.  I asked the course for help.  It did not seem to be arriving so I struggled, rationalized and refocused constantly; only to be distracted by my body and now my feelings.

Then with 20 minutes to go, I had a thought to look at an old score I found cleaning up last week. This score represents an idea I've not been able to complete. The working title is Corvus and dates from 2011. This is revisited about every 6 months.  I can not find where to it wants to go, but I love what has unfolded.  While refamiliarising myself with the notes and structure, energy arrived from the course and from the piece.  Through I mistake, I saw the potential for where Corvus might take off.  After putting away the guitar, I was exhausted.  I then had trouble falling asleep. C'est la vie.

Photo by Magnus Franklin

Performance as a Learning Experience

Last night before I was practiced, I reflected on the gig at Electric Maid  to see what I could learn from the experience. So much happens in a relatively short period of time of a gig.  Interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, and practical.

Wearing a hat can be useful for a gig.  Saturday night was frigid and the venue on the cool side.  I kept my hat on as I did my sound check and almost immediately adjusted it to keep a stage light out of my eyes.  Two reasons that night, but to keep my eyes free was a real plus.

As happens frequently I sped up the first piece of the set.  The energy of being on stage, ready to go just goes from my nervous system to my hands too intensely at times and on Saturday I had to hold on for the ride.  In the future why not practice the first piece at a tempo quicker than I intend to play, but at least then I can be familiar with the piece at a faster tempo.

Something that I learned from Curt Golden a long time ago paid off Saturday night.  I'm not one to talk between pieces, yet for some venues this is expected and it is another way to relate with the audience.  After I composed the set list a week ago, I looked for the opportunities within it to share something about the pieces and then I rehearsed these thoughts.  Curt pointed out how he'll spend hours refining a musical phrase and then think he can just get up on stage and talk off the top of his head.  Having a sense of what I wanted to say added to this performance.

Have an extra battery at all times.  I thought I had learned this one, but then I would not be listing it here.  When I took my tuner out of the case it was dead.  Where was that second battery I had bought last time?  Fortunately Clint the guitarist from Uncle JoJo let me use his.  I did have my tuning fork but very hard to hear in the venue.

Deciding to drop a piece from the set during the has repercussions that were unforeseen and palpable.
Overall the performance felt strong and engaging.

Photo by Sonny Abesemis.

Slowly I Turn

The old Vaudeville skit - Slowly I turned ... step by step ... inch by inch just flashed into my mind.

This is how change enters into my life - slowly, thought by thought.  Am I directing those thoughts? Thoughts come and go, many of them unnoticed.  But when I slow down, observe the flow of thoughts, and interject what I want or even need to be thinking, well then life gets interesting.  Possibilities open.  Habits now stand a chance of being redirected.

Beyond slowing for the various moments of our life when we pause, I need an ongoing slowing to watch and direct those thoughts.  To step out of the race to check items off the list and ponder, even evaluate what, how, I am undertaking an action or process.  When the what is guitar related, I have a clear sense of directing the how, but in this afternoon's practice I found myself asking why I was pursuing a certain exercise.  When I clarified the why, the internal struggle relented.   This was accompanied by a slowing down of thinking; better focus on what I was doing. 

However this remains a process, not an event.  Step by step ...