Guitar music is a place where the elements of rhythm, tone, emotions, harmony,
melody, poetry, preparation, solitude, friendship, intellect, physical training
and spirituality all meet. It involves your spirit, your body, your heart and
your mind, and it is both a solitary and a social act. It not only offers the
player the pleasure of making music, but it also offers to the skilled the ability
to actually change other people's thoughts and feelings. Just by doing something
you love to do, you can impart profound things to others and give them something
they value. Those who discover that they have this ability, who feel obliged
to develop it and who use it generously, will experience a reward comprising
not only the satisfaction of the act itself, but also an abstract pleasure in
sharing and communicating with others through the language of music. There is
an energy, a sense of purpose and a direction that it imparts to its practitioners
that can give a gratifying sense of meaning in what threatens to seem like a
meaningless world.
Only through a lifetime of music will you experience an understanding of all
the aspects of the art, but a basic awareness and regular reminders of the existence
of all these various ingredients that make up music will allow the student to
progress more quickly toward a mastery of it. There is, as always, a price to
pay, and there are responsibilities that come with having the power to change
other's thoughts and feelings, and not all who set out on this learning path
make it all the way through.
The essential element in the study of music is a love of music and an appreciation
of its sacredness. Music is not something your hands or your voice do. It is
not something your mind does. At its finest it is a transcendental state that
involves all parts of you, and allows you to exist on the crest of a wave, in
the exact moment of the present as you perform each part of the music. It is
only there, in the present that we can truly live and have control over our
lives, since the past and future are inaccessible to us. When you are deeply
involved in music and when you have control of it, you can experience an excitement
and a sense of well-being that is impossible to duplicate. The sensation of
the pleasure of music making is the primary thing a student of music must focus
on. If enough time is spent in joyous music making and if the desire to share
and transmit this feeling is strong and sincere, the hands will train themselves
and the voice will find its true expression. One cannot hurry the processp;
you must instead enjoy and cherish it as it slowly unfolds. There is an unfettered
freedom in being a beginner that you may look back on fondly some day. The desire
to be something other than what you are will impede your ability to grow, and
the amount of pleasure that music brings is relatively constant. If you are
not experiencing that pleasure and fulfillment as a student, then you must learn
how to do that before you can go further. The magic that is music comes from
such a place inside us. And any beginner can experience these sensations just
as easily as the master. If not more easily.
Harvey Reid (Elkins West Virginia 1992)
© 1992 by Harvey Reid
This web site
concerns the music and life of acoustic musician, writer & music educator Harvey Reid.
If
you don't find what you want, or if you have comments or questions, please email
to
This web site
concerns the music and life of acoustic musician, writer & music educator Harvey Reid.
If
you don't find what you want, or if you have comments or questions, please email
to
