Still hard to get through playing a few bars of something without making mistakes. And those are just the mistakes I'm aware of making!
Playing the acoustic makes me think in one way. Playing the electric makes me think in another.
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Fighting a cold.
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Last week was a pretty good week for writing. This week has been horrible. Until, that is, this morning when I added two new fragments to the novel. I'm just about halfway through a first draft. It's only taken about 13 and a half months to get to this point.
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Woke up around 2:30 AM today--sneezing and having to pee at the same time. Not a good combination. But it was kind of funny.
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Listening to jazz (Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnnette).
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I'm going to make homemade chicken soup for dinner. Stock from the freezer with lots of meaty chunks from the roaster I made with olive oil and tarragon a couple weeks back. Vegetables and orzo are going to find their way into the mix too.
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I want to read the interview with Susan Howe in the Winter edition of the Paris Review but haven't been able to find a copy in any of the stores I visit. Is it actually out?
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Saw a book in a store today that I eventually want to read: Guitar Zero:The New Musician and the Science of Learning by Gary Marcus. Marcus is a cognitive psychologist who taught himself to play guitar around the time he turned 40. Apparently the book's about the cognitive challenges and benefits of learning music at any age. It sounds intriguing.
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Trying to write Appearances, my novel-in-fragments-in-progress, is an edgy medication, I mean mediation--or maybe meditation. Know what I mean?
I'm learning things I hadn't expected to. I'm learning to fail differently than I have before. And, trust me, I have a deep knowledge of failure.
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My teacher told me that Itzhak Perlman could never make it past the 3rd note of a scale without (metaphorically) saying "SHIT!" My brother who has played guitar for over 40 years say that playing without making mistakes is almost impossible, What one learns to do is to just keep going. Which is why so few live recordings are actually live. When we hear music in person our ears are very forgiving.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I have to say though that I don't say "Shit" metaphorically when I'm playing. I just say it.
ReplyDeleteStill,John, thanks for the encouragement.
How's the playing going for you?
It's key to remember we practice to perfect our practice. I say shit too and worse. Just my crackpot theory. The Paris Review is out. In fact it's right in front of me!
ReplyDeletexoxox
Damn. I gotta get that Paris Review. And I've gotta get my fingers to link up with my brain.
ReplyDelete