Tag: practice

Casting a critical eye (and ear) on your score

Nicole Neal2 Comments

We all tend to – ok, that might be a broad and sweeping generalisation – but a considerable number of guitarists I know (myself included oftentimes) tend to really rely quite heavily on what is written on our musical scores.

La boheme hand written score
Skull and cross bones? Interpret that! La boheme hand written score (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The thought process probably goes something along the lines of…”well the composer wrote that so it must definitely be what he means and I must stick religiously to it” or “this arranger must know their eggs to (a) be arranging in the first place and (b) have it published; it must be right” or “it is written, therefore I must play it” (which then perhaps may lead one conversely to think “nothing is written, I must play with no dynamics….“).

Am I right?

Possibly.

And that’s also kind of the point of what I’m saying here.

Just because something has been written on the page does not necessarily mean it is right. It doesn’t necessarily mean its wrong either. Confused much?! Let me give an interesting case in point here to illustrate what I’m yabbering on about.

It was recently brought to my attention by one of my students (you know who you are!) a note in a piece that I previously had thought and been playing for a number of years as an A natural was in fact in the score an A# that hadn’t been naturalised within the same bar (and yes, it’s always marvellous to have students pick these things up a it means I’m doing my job and teaches me to pay heed to my own lessons!). It’s the Prelude of John Duarte’s English Suite towards the end of bar 7 for you spotters out there.

Harmonically, it sounds a little ‘interesting’ if one takes it as literal and written with the A#. But it’s not entirely out of context with the piece – there certainly are some interesting little harmonic tidbits and turns, so not entirely out of place. The A natural, on the other hand, does make more traditional harmonic sense, which is why my brain “saw” and heard it as such and has been playing it that way for some time now. This is also probably why a number of big name guitarists also play it that way, Segovia and Antigoni Goni included.

But just because I play it like that, and just because the big cheeses play it like that does not make it correct necessarily.

It’s the same with dynamics and other musical directions that may (or may not) be written on the score.

Play whatever it is you want to play with heartfelt intention, like you really wanted to play it and in the way you wanted to play it and you’ll have me convinced it’s right. And so that’s what this student of mine did. He decided “yes, the A# is the note for me and I’m going to play it like so..”

Let’s put this another way. As musicians we need to be good scientists. And what do good scientists do?

They question.

They don’t accept the status quo without asking why it exists. They don’t accept an answer as a given. They seek to understand. To truly get to the heart of something. It’s about seeking meaning and understanding. It’s about your intention and meaning behind your action. Yes, even one little note.

Question it. Ask yourself “Is it supposed to by X or is it supposed to be Y or Z even? I don’t know, but I’d like to play it as X. I like X!”

So go forth fellow guitarists and musicians, apply a critical eye and ear and become excellent scientists with your scores!

The Importance of Technical Work in Learning the Guitar

Nicole Neal1 Comment

This is a subject I have been discussing recently with a few of my students, so I thought it may be useful to share with you too. It’s a subject that has relevancy for whatever level of learning, proficiency and mastery one is at, I believe. It also has relevancy and applicability to all musicians too; not just us guitarists. So if you’re learning piano, clarinet, accordion, washboard, or whatever, feel free to “copy paste” the concepts across to whatever else you may be learning!

What do I mean by “technical work”?

Sea of Notes
Sea of Notes (Photo credit: JadeXJustice)

By technical work, I mean our scales and arpeggios. This is THE fundamental building block to excellent playing. I also mean our target exercises; exercises that train specific aspects of playing or movements such as slurs, barres, rasgueado technique, tremolo, free stroke and rest stroke, playing in different positions on the fretboard, percussive techniques, or various combinations thereof.

But can’t I just do that whilst I’m learning my pieces?

Yes. But also no.

Yes, you can definitely be introduced to and learn these various aspects in your repertoire pieces. There comes a point though where the technique required to execute certain elements as well as you’d probably like (as you can hear in your head or on your favourite Julian Bream recording!) needs a bit of looking at in isolation.

I’m sure Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and the other great artists did not leap straight to the big kahuna canvass to set about creating a masterpiece. Ok they have done once or twice, but I’ll bet you they carried out a number of studies – application of certain strokes, application of light and shade, composition and arrangement of the key elements in the scene and so on. They got to work on their technique before applying it to the main focus of their attention. So we have the same when learning and playing the guitar.

And there’s another parallel to be drawn here between the artists and learning and playing the guitar. That is relevancy.

Technical study is all very well and good. It should always be a means to an end however, for whatever you’re working on or working towards at a particular moment in time. It has to mean something to us for it to really work it’s magic.

So you work on particular aspects in isolation – you study it from various angles with exercises and studies (they call them this for a reason…) and then apply it. You reveal the relevancy of the energy exerted, the movements carried out and effort you’ve just made, by applying it in a piece.

Then when you bring that reviewed and refreshed technique back to the piece you’re playing, chances are it will fit right in it, and make the piece easier to play and articulate and infinitely more musical. To quote Charlie Sheen (something I never thought I’d do on this blog), “winning!”.

How much of it should I do and when?

Well, the answer to that question really depends on what it is you’re trying to achieve at this particular point in your learning or playing. The short answer, however, is something (with whatever may be appropriate for you at the time) everyday, or at least as often as you’re able to pick up your guitar if not daily.

And yes, I still very much partake in my daily technical exercises. Once a week or so I review which exercises and why I’m doing and why and what I’m hoping to achieve with them that week. I also check in daily with what I’m aiming to achieve with the exercises in a given practice session.

It’s like a daily walk, or physical exercise – as we do daily physical exercise to keep us fit and healthy (or we’re supposed to!), so we do the same with our guitar-based technical exercises. It’s the minimum we need for a fit, healthy and balanced approach to our playing lifestyle.

I’d love to hear about your approach to technical work and development. What are your approaches?