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Musical miscues

6/26/2013

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Faithful reader Tony Obermeit from Australia (hi Tony!) sent me a link to an interesting story on a guitar site about the importance of keeping musical mistakes in perspective. I agreed with most of what the writer had to say and wanted to add a bit. Perhaps you will relate (!).

As I’ve said in this space many times before, part of my job as a guitar teacher is to be a cheerleader. In my early years I had a couple teachers (guitar and other subjects) who seemed to take great pleasure in being very derisive of my efforts. I guess the idea was to inspire me to a higher standard and better performance but many years later I realized this attitude was as much based in the ego of the instructor as in his or her attempt to make me better at my endeavors. I vowed to never, ever be that way.

But this gets to the question of just what is “good enough” in your playing. Are mistakes all that important?

Right now I have an older student who is positively stifled by even the smallest mistake he makes. He exclaims loudly his displeasure with his playing – to the point that I wonder what my neighbors think I’m doing to the poor guy! As gently as I can I encourage him to keep going, no matter what, if at all possible. I am a big believer in keeping a steady beat, that being locked into the rhythm of a song will ultimately cure many mistakes in a shorter amount of time overall, than constantly stopping and starting.

Anyway, what should you accept in your playing? Of course we all want to play as close to perfectly as possible but you know what? I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone play “perfectly” whatever the heck that means. OK, maybe Wynton Marsalis, but my guess is even Wynton would be critical of his own playing.

I had a bit of trouble with one small point in the article Tony sent, the idea that mistakes add a certain personality or human element to one’s playing and they should be embraced as such. I think that’s a bit of a cop-out. Yes, we are going to make mistakes but if we accept them as being inevitable it’s just too easy to make the same ones, over and over.

Taking things to the next level – performance – I do agree with a point the writer made: most people listening to someone play either don’t hear or readily overlook mistakes. This gets back to that rhythm thing. Unless your playing has reached train wreck status, KEEP GOING. The only real bond that the listener and the player have is the beat. I would venture that 99% of the audience doesn’t know or care about the difference between straight-ahead G Major chord and a G Major 7th. So if that Maj7 is giving you trouble, vow to practice it later and forge ahead! But if you stop all you’re doing is breaking the bond and calling attention to the mistake.

Put in honest, frequent and consistent practice time. Be sure to ALWAYS back up a couple measures when practicing a difficult change, not just stop, get it right, and continue. If you stop and then continue I guarantee you will make the same mistake the next time that passage or change occurs. Slow down if must but keep the beat rock steady, even at excruciatingly slow speeds. This will cure the problem in a shorter amount of time, overall, than stopping/fixing/moving on. Trust me on this!!

And accept your mistakes only as being moments of enlightenment. Or as one very fine guitar teacher I had years ago once told me: “You’re gonna make the mistakes. You might as well make ‘em and get ‘em out of the way!”

Peace & good music,
Gene

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Dynamic solutions

6/20/2013

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I recently heard a local band comprised of some very talented players. They were primarily acoustic but had an electric bass player and a guy with mic’ed hand percussion. It was clear that they loved playing together and put a lot of effort into their act at least in terms of beginning and ending tunes together, and they had a reasonably varied repertoire. Unfortunately, after a few songs I found my attention wandering. Why?

The answer was quite simple. Pretty much everything they played sounded…. the same. This is a pitfall that many, many part time/local type bands fall into and I think I know why. It starts with the very simple but often neglected concept of dynamics.

Classically trained musicians understand this practically from moment one of their training. Dynamics (the amount of volume and/or “intensity” for lack of better description) are usually noted in a piece of classical music: pianissimo (very soft), forte (loud) and many notations in between. Most bands playing various forms of popular music on the local level don’t employ these concepts. It’s straight ahead, full steam, balls to the wall playing. While this can convey a sense of excitement – or perhaps the players’ nervousness! – it gets boring pretty quickly. The same could be said of playing very softly all the time.

Professional bands understand this. Mumford & Sons take it to the extreme with the majority of their songs beginning with quite soft or medium dynamics, even moments of silence, but at some point the volume, tempo and intensity rises. The classic “Stairway to Heaven” is another example – the louder, intense portion of the song would probably not have had the impact without being preceded by the softer section that begins the song.

My theory about why less professional musicians don’t think much about dynamics is that is some subconscious way they are afraid that playing softly at certain points will result in the audience losing interest. But you know what? Just the opposite is true (assuming we’re not talking about a bunch of rowdy drunks in a bar!): framing the louder, more exuberant parts of a song with quieter but focused interludes draws in the listener, making them wonder what’s coming next.

This requires some practice and the ability to listen closely to what your band mates are doing. Good, productive band practices are another subject entirely that I’ll comment on in the future but the point is – everyone needs to be on the same page. Working on dynamics is one of the best ways I know to make ANY band sound professional, prepared and INTERESTING.

Peace & good music,

Gene

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Let's open a music store!

6/12/2013

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A young man stopped by the other day to drop off his guitar to have some new strings put on. This is not the first time this has happened and it’s always a bit curious to me that someone would pay for this, considering the fact that the process is really quite easy and not terribly time consuming. There are dozens of videos on You Tube that clearly show the process too. I always feel a bit guilty charging someone for this service (and I would never charge my students) but I guess it’s just another example of the “I want it NOW!” society we live in. Or perhaps I’m being harsh – maybe the kid was just not confident in his ability to do it.

In any case, I put on a new set of strings, adjusted the action and made a bit of beer money doing it, so no harm done. He was thrilled to pick up his guitar and have it ready to play.

This was yet another example of a conundrum we face here on Olde Cape Cod. There are a couple of very small music stores farther down Cape but nothing like a full line dealer who offers not only a good selection of products but also service. The reasons are certainly not news. Every once in a while I toy with the idea of opening a music store here in Falmouth or nearby but then I come to my senses. There is no way to compete with the mega online retailers; in any case, margins are miniscule on big ticket items and few people have the resources to tie up tens of thousands of dollars in inventory to make a tiny portion of that back – probably after waiting months or even years. Factor in very high rents here in our tourist-based town, paying a decent wage to dependable, knowledgeable staff (assuming you could find such people!), sunk costs such as insurance, infrastructure, taxes and the fickle economic times we live in and the bottom line looks stupid.

Many people are also not aware of the way dealerships work for big, name brand guitars. In almost every case there are “protected” territories. Only one dealer of Brand M, T, G or F is allowed within an area. How these areas are defined is somewhat fluid but I can understand the logic from a retailer’s perspective. However – this concept made much more sense back in the days before the internet. Sure, you shouldn’t have to compete with someone a few miles away carrying the same premium products. That’s the way the old story goes. But how do you compete with the Guitar Center or Musician’s Friend? Especially when the major manufacturers have MSLPs that must be adhered to – at least in theory. The few successful retailers of premium guitars in the U.S. will sell you a brand new Martin, Taylor, Gibson or Fender at 40% off list price but they cannot advertise that policy, you must contact them directly. The manufacturers are well aware of this but look the other way as long as the phantom MSLP or MAP is what’s listed on the retailers’ web sites.

But… this means the retailer is lucky to make 10% profit. Maybe less if he includes free shipping. In real numbers: Say a premium, American-made guitar “lists” for $3999. In all likelihood, the retailer pays about 50% of that amount for the instrument. (He probably had to pay inbound shipping too, further affecting the bottom line) This means he will probably have to sell that guitar for about $2200 (40% off list). Put another way: he is supposed to time up $2000+ to maybe, MAYBE make a profit of $200. Every day that guitar hangs on the wall costs him money in sunk costs. And of course you can’t have just one premium guitar for sale if you’re going to be a “real” music store.

See what I mean about the folly of opening a small town, full line music store?

OK, what about other instruments, you may ask. What about the school business for band and orchestra instruments? Well, around here at least, one very large outfit out of Boston has OWNED all the instrument rental business for decades. A few have tried to break this monopoly over the years and have failed.

OK, Gene, enough with the negativity. Music stores are no different than what hardware stores, small grocery stores, sporting goods stores and others are facing. The only way to compete is in the one area that the mega retailers cannot: service. I’m hard pressed to believe that the kid with the guitar this week would have walked into the Guitar Center in Boston in hopes of having his guitar restrung and adjusted, and if he did, he would have been charged much, much more.

All I can hope is that he’ll remember, tell his friends and maybe take some lessons at some point. Maybe even buy some more accessories or even a new guitar if he comes to trust my judgment and expertise.

Peace & good music,
Gene

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    Gene Bourque

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