Tag: preparation

Just get out there and do it!

Nicole NealLeave a comment

I’m talking about performing…. Performing in front of others…. Others that don’t include your teacher, significant other, the goldfish or the dog.

Ooh the mere thought of it sends some into veritable conniptions!

Feelings of nausea, dread, impending doom, going into battle or even to one’s demise are feelings that most of us have experienced at one time or another when nearing a performance.

And that’s ok. Seriously. It’s a completely natural reaction that the mind and body has to a perceived threat. That threat is obviously not a physical threat – no one’s going to punch you out for fluffing a note or two, at least you hope not. It’s a threat to our egos and our self-esteem. I’ve spoken a bit about this subject before in a recent post.

And for those who are stepping up to the plate for the first time these feelings may not really have been experienced before or not in the intensity with which they now appear, I can tell you that it’s all perfectly natural. It’s ok. In fact it’s more than ok to have these feelings (first up, it means you care about what you’re going. Always a good start). Not only that, you have permission to feel these feelings – don’t try and run from it, suppress it or hide from it. What challenge or issue was ever really truly solved by taking that course of action, hey?

It’s just our brain’s protective system trying to look after us. It’s trying to do us a favour. It’s trying to keep us nice and comfortable.

Some people are happy with comfortable. But nothing much was ever achieved with comfortable. To learn, develop and grow one needs to get a little uncomfortable. Think on the nerves as growing pains. An inevitable part of growing up.

And I applaud wholeheartedly those that step forward, step up, willing to take the feedback, willing to learn from their experience. It does take courage, it is a little bit icky and challenging. That’s half the “fun”! If it were so easy everyone would be doing it! But you, considering performing, or getting up there for the 100th or 1000th time, you’re special for doing that. Don’t forget it! You’re bloody awesome whatever the outcome of the performance. Just remember to use the experiences of the performance to make yourself, your playing, even better.

So my advice for those just getting into performing just get out there and do it! Like most other things, the more you practice performance, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. So dive in and roll with it, feel the feelings, embrace shaky hands, embrace fuzzes and buzzes and memory black spots and grow with the experience.

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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!