Work-life-Guitar Balance

Nicole Neal5 Comments

We’ve all heard of work-life balance – finding that (perhaps mythical?!) equilibrium between making ones living and enjoying life (although that definition presupposes that we may not enjoy our work…), spending quality time with family and friends and so on.

Well, for those of us that are guitar nuts then we have to find not only balance between work and life, but also find time for good quality guitar practice and playing. Yes, this I call work-life-guitar balance!guitar_photo2.jpg
And believe you me I know all about this! For those of you less familiar with me and/or this blog it may come as a surprise that I have a day job outside of the wonders of the guitar world (strictly speaking you could say I have to find work-life-guitar-blog balance!). Yes as well as guitar-related activities, I have been studying, running my own business and most recently joining a large organisation.
I’ve been a busy bee as they say! So when I talk about this work-life-guitar balance and share with you my thoughts and advice on getting the most out of your practice it very much comes from first hand experience and having been there myself! I know EXACTLY what it feels like folks!! I’m right there with you!
My top five tips for work-life-guitar balance
So here are my top five tips for maintaining that work-life-guitar balance whilst really making progress and pushing forward with your development on the guitar.
1. Build the practice habit with a little bit and often – consistent, regular practice is key to making progress. Even if it’s 10 minutes every day or sat half an hour most days of the week. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll progress much faster that way than finding a two hour slot on a Sunday afternoon and practicing just one or maybe twice a week. You’ll be surprised where you can find 10 – 30 minutes each day in your schedule if you really want to.
2. Work out a schedule of practice – sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming to know you should be practicing scales, technical exercises, studies and two, three or more pieces (especially if you’re gearing up for a grade exam). I recommend breaking things down over the week – understand what you need to spend time on the most but also schedule in some other time in the week for other things.  You’ll be surprised at what you can fit in across 5 or 6 days.
3. Practice critically but not judgmentally – to really make the most of your practice time with the guitar you really need to switch the brain cells to full work mode. Really think about what it is you’re doing, why, how, the sound you’re making, what might need tweaking and how you might go about that and so on and so forth. Ask yourself questions like “is this how I want this section or phrase to sound?” or “What do I need to do with my left or right hand here to make this transition smoother?” Ask yourself questions like this in a non-judgmental way though – don’t beat up on yourself for not being able to quite pull off that slur yet! That’s really not going to help!
4. Accept that life happens – sometimes you might have to work late, or the kids/ dog/ partner/ your folks are sick, or you might have to go away for work. Worry not! Relax and roll with it. The guitar will still be there when life gets back on a more even keel again and the rest from it may even have done you some good.
5. Enjoy it – we play this instrument because we love it so. Yes, there will be times when we might get frustrated with our practice or things are not happening as fast as we like, but overall we should be enjoying ourselves practicing and playing guitar. And don’t let it become a chore or a grind or something that’s getting in the way of life. Technical exercise after technical exercise makes Jack a dull guitarist – cut loose every now and then enjoy it!!

Melbourne Guitar Quartet – in colour

Nicole NealLeave a comment

On 13th March, I along with about 100 other privileged Melburnians at the Melbourne Recital Centre, witnessed the awe-inspiring launch performance of Melbourne Guitar Quartet’s third studio recording “in colour”. 

The name of the album couldn’t really be more apt as Ben, Jeremy, Pete and Tonié are really maestri of tonal control (this is some of the best quality tone you’ll hear on a guitar!) and musical colour. Which, is pretty flipping important in particular, I believe, when playing music by “impressionistic” French composers such as Debussy. Not only this, the Quartet’s sense of colour and expression, brought to the fore by the use of guitar family (soprano, standard, baritone and bass classical guitars), really do bring a new dimension to well-known and loved pieces from the Spanish (formerly piano) repertoire.

The recital opened with Claude Debussy’s beautiful Suite Bergamasque (as does the recording). If you’re not familiar, Suite Bergamasque is a suite of four pieces written originally for the piano around the turn of the 20th century and includes the very well-known Claire de Lune. And MGQ have done themselves proud with this transcription, really capturing that impressionistic nature of Debussy’s work. It’s difficult not to go past the Claire de Lune  too – such as well known piece, but masterfully transcribed here and played with such supreme delicacy, with a subtlety that invites that audience in and asks them very gently to listen to this beautiful melody, the sumptuous harmonies. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end….

The Suite Bergamasque is followed by the lively Arabesca from Enrique Granados’ 12 Danzas Espanolas. This, along with the Villanesca and the Zarabanda which closes out the recording (both from the 12 Danzas Espanolas), really benefits from the use of the guitar family instruments, enabling Granados’ original piano imagining to come to life in terms of the bass to treble range. Something that, obviously, a standard guitar or group of standard guitars can’t convey as well.

One of my particular favourites from both the launch performance and the recording is Cordoba from Isaac Albeniz’s Chants d’Espagne. This also really benefits from the use of the guitar family, a with those big fat juicy bass notes and scintillating soprano notes. This track is an absolutely fantastic transcription and is on high rotation for me at the moment! In terms of the performance of this piece, it really showed-off their tightness as a group. I know only too well from playing in the Victorian Guitar Orchestra that slower moving pieces can often be the more challenging to coordinate between musicians, but the Quartet were right on the nail here (and throughout).

The album also features the Assez vif movements from both Ravel and Debussy’s respective string quartets (Ravel’s in F major and Debussy’s in G Minor) and the wonderful Pavane pour une infant defunte by Ravel. Again, these are well known pieces of the greater classical music repertoire and potentially a daunting task to transcribe such music for the guitar family. Well, they didn’t disappoint! The Ravel Assez vif is just genius, with the most fantastic colouration and texture, really capturing the essence of the string quartet, but without it feeling like a pastiche of a bowed string piece. And of course, the playing is just incredible (I’m running out of superlatives here!) with that rich tone and sensitive, musical playing.

Throughout the whole in colour performance it was so inspiring to feel and see the interaction between the players – a subtle eyebrow movement, nods of the head, a lean of the body. Each one knowing what the other is doing, their sound a gorgeous, colourful blend of guitar awesomeness.

If you’re interested in beautiful French and Spanish music, re-imagined for the guitar family and brought to life by four musicians at the top of their game, this album is a must. Do yourself a favour and head over to their website now to order yourself a copy of in colour.

http://www.mgq.com.au/Shop.htm

Note: Please let it be known that I am somewhat biased in writing this as Ben Dix has been my own teacher and mentor (and a fantastic one at that) for the last few years, Tonié has always been happy to share sage words of wisdom with me, and Jeremy and Pete are both lovely chaps too. I can confirm they didn’t know this was getting posted up thought and I only ever tend to really write up positive reviews here, so you can rest assured that, although somewhat biased, this is a bloody fantastic recording!