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November 15, 2009: Xipal, and Perfect Practice
In this blog I plan to write about our adventures, our life in San Miguel, and and some things musical. I'm just going to write in it when I have something to share. And thank you for reading! If there's anything you want to ask about it, or comment about it, feel free to send me an email.
November 15, 2009
It's a beautiful sunny Sunday morning here in San Miguel. Feels chilly, and there's moisture in the air though the sky is clear. Birds are singing and the cat is sleeping on the bed after being out all night with "the boys."Last night at Xipal Restaurant
We had a lovely time playing. Some friends of ours, and a few folks from the hotel gifted us with their presence for a couple of hours. They came in little by little, and before we knew it, the terrace was full. It was great to see Nina and Dan again, and May, and Marc, and Jon and Wendy and Sander, and Leo, as well as our new students Huw and Ernst, and to meet Delores. We had the patio all to ourselves, sonically speaking, as there was very little street noise or other music drifting in. We played past nine o'clock, and stopped when the air started to get chilly and damp. Thank you to those who came out and listened, those we know and those we didn't have a chance to meet.On Perfection and Perfect Practice
Lately I've been contemplating that there really is no perfection, only perfect practice. What this means to me is that when I sit down to practice the guitar, the practice is really about being totally present to what I'm doing. Bringing the mind back to the task at hand. It means to use my mind to perceive the sensations in the fingers as the nails contact the strings, and the ears to perceive the sound being created by the hands. It also means slowing the music down to the point that these perceptions are possible; rushing through a piece before it is ready to be played fast cuts out the possibility of really perceiving both sound and tactile sense. It means also to practice using the mind as a perceiving instrument, rather than as an engine driving a car. And, it means to stop thinking about myself. "Did I play that right? Darn, I didn't! Oooh, that was good!" etc., is all just chatter and gets in the way of feeling with the fingers and hearing with ears.I desire to make music through playing the guitar. Note by note, I build repertory, through patient practice and repetition. Practice is a form of exercise, mental and physical. It means uniting the mind with the hands, and being continually in communication with the outside world through hearing the sounds that I am producing on the guitar.
The word "perfection" in my mind's eye is a hard, static, and high place. It is a "this or that" kind of place, meaning, something is or isn't "there". Whereas "perfect practice" implies a dedicated but soft kind of guidance, a gentle taking on of the various variables (the mind's focus, the feeling in each of the fingers of the right hand, the feeling in each of the fingers of the left hand, the mind's receptive listening capacity, the body's breathing, the knowledge of the music itself, etc.) and bringing them all together into the present moment to produce a note, and then another note, and then another note, etc. Some days it is like herding cats! And some days it flows beautifully. But no matter, the process is the same: stay present; feel, and listen.