A Perfect Day

My day started at 9:00 am. This felt like sleeping in because it is the latest I have gotten up so far this summer and the longest I have slept. I followed my typical regime of preparing for the day by brushing my teeth and getting dressed, shuffled downstairs and started up the computer and grabbed the closest guitar which ended up being my 12 string. So I greeted the morning with a mournful rendition of The Foggy Dew, played around with the mood of the piece during many repetitions and moved on to Loch Lomond/Scotland the Brave. All because the 12 string beastie was already in Open C something tuning. I ignored the churning computer for another 45 minutes or so and moved onto working on Nocturne and Anji, my current main focuses. I have this goal of getting Nocturne memorized before the weekend is out. I am creeping forward and not altogether confident that I will achieve that arbitrary challenge. A practice session feels totally incomplete if I haven't played Dance and Study for Margot so they both got ample attention today along with Freight Train, Falling Slowly and Scarborough Fair.
I forced a separation between me and instruments and left to get my morning Starbuck's Frappacino(at some point I realized I hadn't had anything to eat yet) and to get some DVD cases for the festival videos I have rendered. By this time the morning had waned and mid-day surfaced. After organizing the videos, I couldn't help but grab the guitars and get back to work on my playing. I ran through a few of the exercises Walbert presented to me then picked my way through several tunes.
John was my nourishment savior and came home from work with a sandwich from Subway for my dinner. Thanks hon! Then it was off to Fire Arts for me to mentor the high school kids who are participating in summer studio. I keep a guitar at the studio and took a few breaks from the kids and played some more music. In fact I ended up leaving about an hour late because I was pretty absorbed in the tunes. My studio buddies seem to be a willing audience, at least I hope I'm not torturing their ears. They did stay until I was finished.... Not so true although for the pit bull dog one of the kids brought to the studio. He was sweet tempered and friendly until I began to play. He absolutely was offended by the sound of my guitar. It completely frightened the poor pup and he huddled next to his owner and barked at every strum. Fortunately, my dog is completely unaffected by the sound of my playing and often lays next to me during a practice session.

Applying Lessons

I have been home for a solid week since my seven day guitar immersion at the Miami International Guitar Festival and subsequent two day Walbertization. The whole 9 day adventure was a whirlwind of learning. I have had the opportunity to meet some fabulous guitarists. I was absolutely surrounded by talented and dedicated musicians whose skills rightfully are leaps and bounds beyond my relatively rudimentary level. As I reflect upon everything I become aware of how kind everyone was and even though there was a huge musical divide I was not shunned or ignored. I have tried my best to gain knowledge and nudge my skills forward as I participated in workshops, individual lessons with Richard Gilewitz and David Walbert, observed demonstrations and performances and listened to conversations of the guitarists. In this current week's time I have done my best to catch up on chores that were neglected in my absence and to digest my lessons. My days have been sporadically broken into bits of playing, reviewing notes, reviewing video and making discrete video discs, and working on a couple of new pieces of music. I have been focusing a lot of energy on another David Walbert piece "Nocturne" I have some of the puzzle pieces memorized and am building it measure by measure. I am also working on "Anji" which was the focus of one of my lessons with Richard. I finally have gotten a feel for the timing and bluesy bounce of the piece and have a desperate need to burn that hard won achievement into my brain. Walbert made a few left hand adjustments in Study for Margot so I am working at incorporating those changes and just simply improving the piece. He also gave me a wealth of advice and exercises to improve the mechanics of my playing and begin to add some color and texture.
Soon I will begin preparations for the next adventure, attending the Original Dulcimer Players Funfest in Evart, Mi. Contrary to the title this is a huge acoustic music festival that provides workshops and playing opportunities for much more than hammered dulcimer players. Most acoustic instruments are represented and positive energy flows freely. John and I get to participate in this one together which is a definite plus.

Stumbling Blocks and Irritations

While the computer awakened this morning I did my usual thing of grabbing a guitar and practicing. No sense staring at a loading computer screen, may as well accomplish something. The last few times I have played Echoing Gilewitz, Richard caught the fact that I keep flubbing the patterns in a some of the sections. I have made concerted efforts to repair this problem in the past and had falsely slipped into the thinking I had the problem nipped. This is so far from the truth that I am really irritated with myself for not repairing these ingrained errors. I have just spent minutes 30 attacking the trouble spots, repeating, repeating and repeating them some more, then incorporating them into the whole tune. I get it right sometimes and then it seems my fingers have their own little nasty agenda and they just go ahead and play them incorrectly. Maybe today will be Echoing Gilewitz day. Clearly it is going to take several hours to retrain my stubborn brain and right hand.

Dr. Rene Gonzalez addresses the audience prior to opening the concert series of the MIGF

Camille and Me-Founding Members of the Students of Richard Gilewitz Support Group

All Smiles After a Successful International Guitar Fest Experience

Richard Gilewitz Sound Checks prior to his Friday night concert