The last couple of weeks saw a (thankfully) short-term injury to my left hand. I've lapsed, significantly, in making a point to warm up before each practice session, opting, instead, to just jump right in to whatever I've been learning to play. Unfortunately, my laziness did me more harm than good, and I wound up out of commission last week while I nursed my hand back to full motion. Simply put, I aggrivated a muscle while trying to play the barre chords in Romance. Gripping anything was painful.
Thankfully, the pain has since discipated and I'm back to normal, but I've definitely learned a lesson the hard way. No matter how limber my hand has become since starting lessons over 2 years ago, it's vitally important that I spend at least 10 minutes warming up before every practice session.
I used some of my Christmas money to finally buy myself some relatively decent audio recording equipment. I picked up a $20 microphone at Radio Shack, and a boom mic stand at the local music shop for $40.
This is the third in a series of Spanish Caprichos that I've been learning how to arpeggiate chords with:
I recorded the first one last June. There are sixteen Caprichos in the book these were published in. They're just arpeggio exercises, but they sound beautiful.
Last night was, for the most part, a lesson about focus and musicality. I was there, but my thoughts weren't, and I couldn't seem to bring myself or my playing into focus.
Suffice it to say, my performance of Romance for Guitar was significantly less than stellar. I could feel myself just going through the motion of the notes and not actually feeling what the music was trying to express. As a result, it sounded very flat, and very emotionless. My teacher said he could tell I was somewhere else the moment I walked through the door. When I explained where my focus really was, he was understanding, and offered some advice on how to improve my focus and inject some of what I was feeling into the music. I played the piece again, and delivered a performance that was 100% better than the first time.
At that point, we discussed the importance of expression in music, and how I can learn to balance musical accuracy with emotion, and combine the two so that the music flows. To maintain accuracy and improve the natural flow of the music, I have to train myself to focus one step ahead of where I am in a song. If I'm playing a G chord, and the next measure has me playing an Amin, my focus needs to be on the Amin. I'm spending too much time in the current moment and not thinking enough ahead. Most importantly, I have to remain focused squarely on the task at hand. Once I'm able to block all other thoughts and think only on the music and how it makes me feel - and express those feelings through my performance - everything else will fall into place.
It sounds a bit like Zen for guitar, but it makes a lot of sense to me. I listen to music as an escape from life. I can do the same thing when I play.
I think I've posted about this before, but it's an important lesson. I need to not just play the music. That's all mechanics and technique. Instead, I need to think about how the music makes me feel, and express those feelings through my playing.
Tonight was a terrific lesson! Save for a couple of quibbles, I had a near flawless performance of the arpeggio study I've been learning to play! I think part of the problem stemmed from my having rush through it a bit. Nevertheless, my hard work and determination finally paid off!
Now I just have to figure out how to get the ring finger and thumb on my right hand to behave on Romanza. I'm growing to hate that piece. My teacher gave me a few more tips and an exercise to practice with, outside of Romanza, that should help further develop the coordination I need to play it.