~~~

Lie #2:

'OK, if playing music isn't working, I'll practice some scales'

~~~

Lie #2  used to be the first thing on my mind when I
got up each morning back in the days when I was
wondering why playing through music wasn't improving
my technical progress.

Waking up every morning with a lie swirling around
in your head is very unhealthy and always causes you to
spend time in the day on the wrong things.  But it's your
lie and you think it's the right solution so you go ahead
and waste time.  How much time have you wasted with
your lies ?

This is how obsessed I became about,  'Playing music will
make me a great player !' and why I thought my lie was
the right solution. ( this one died very hard for me !)

Every time Julian Bream came out with a new vinyl record,
( remember those ?), I would record it onto my Reel to Reel
Tape Machine ( remember those ? ) and hook it up to a timer
so that it would turn on at 6:00 am and his playing would be my
alarm clock every morning.

Cool, Huh ?  I thought so, too !

So as I slowly came out of deep sleep and went to consciousness,
Julian Bream would be softly playing in the background.

I used to love those moments.

Here's the neat part of it all, when you're half asleep, all you
hear is the player's pure musical interpretation.  So I would
sub-consciously compare his interpretation to what I wanted
do with the piece, interpretively.

I was convinced that this was the inspired path to great technique !

Then I would get up and start reading through his pieces, ( that
I had just ordered the week before ) and try to superimpose
my interpretation against my memory of his, all the while trying
to make little adjustments to the tempo and musical nuances.

Despite the fact that this was a wonderful exercise, I wasn't
really improving my playing ability.  Mistakes kept happening
and kept happening , even though I was extremely focused.

The result ?  Severe depression like the sort that middle level
executives get when they're fired from their boring jobs.

So onto the next lie and what I though was the right solution.

Time to seriously practice some serious scales !

Which Edition of Scales ?

The Segovia Edition, of course !

Here we go........first mistake ?  No metronome.  But what the
heck, three octave 'Segovia Edition' scales, mature fingering
edits, brilliant note for string choices, brilliant , brilliant !

Just playing them makes you feel a step closer to the Maestro.

So you have at it, following the fingerings exactly as written starting
out rather slowly at first and then more rapidly just as he
demonstrates on his teaching recordings.  He would play sixteenths
at quarter note MM 60 and then... suddenly ...triple the speed.

So this is how Segovia practiced !  What a revelation !

And what a joy to listen to the Master make music with scales.

You try, of course, but you can not match his speed and power so
you start repeating the scale, up the fretboard and back down
over and over and over.

Then you try to increase the speed gradually but the more you try,
the more all sorts of little mistakes and glitches start happening.

Then certain of your left hand fingers feel like they are lost
or something with wanting to place the third finger but the
second finger going down instead.

Your right hand fingers are getting confused as to when to
alter a fingering pattern as you shift from string to string
and they start creating a different pattern every other measure
without you even realizing.

Then you start second guessing Segovia's fingerings and trying
your own but they're about as effective as blowing up balloons
full of holes.

"What the heck is going on ?",  You think  "I'm not increasing
my control ability, I'm actually losing control !"

Weeks later...only marginal technical improvement, very little
gain in finger control and what feels like muscle fatigue in your
whole body.

Then you start looking at the time you've spent and the limited
time in the day you have to spend on your beloved guitar.

And your music ?

It's sitting on the stand just waiting for you to bring it to life !

The result ?  Same severe depression like the sort that upper
level executives get when they're fired from their exciting jobs.

So you sit down and ask yourself,  "If playing music doesn't
work and playing scales doesn't work, then what will work ?"

I mean how does one get to very rapid speed control with loud
volume and full tone, you know, like Segovia ?

You give up the serious scale work.  It's too exhausting and
you're getting worse as a player rather than better.

But you love the Classical Guitar and you're determined not to
give up, so you think, "There must be a way to ease into the
world of REAL playing ability and not make so many ....

"Damn mistakes all the time !"

On the Next Page,  I'll expose Lie #3:

'OK, if playing my favorite pieces of music and practicing the
Segovia scales aren't working, I'll play REALLY simple music !'

Sakari


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