A famous philosopher someday will say, “Do or don’t do. There is no try.”
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The best advice I’ve ever read
- Thread starter Geepers
- Start date
devnulljp
Supporting Member
I can't stand cryptic riddles and koans that need to be unpacked and reinterpreted. Speak clearly, or don't say anything at all.
It's also true that some people are simply gifted more than others, and the same amount of dedication and practice don't yield the same results. It's possible to achieve your personal best, but there is always a better player. I just posted a memory about meeting Victor Bailey when I'd been playing about 1 year. I was so humbled by his natural ability I nearly gave up bass, he was better after 3-4 years of playing than I will ever be. To pretend that everyone is capable of that kind of mastery if "they just worked hard enough" is denied by the hard truths of life, and kind of silly.
This riddle is answered by the one universal TB answer:
P-Bass with tort and flats makes the impossible, possible.
P-Bass with tort and flats makes the impossible, possible.
The message is that a virtuoso is prepared in many ways to be better at one task than a beginner.
And YES
Many times I've learned a passage that seemed impossibly difficult at first, but with relentless, methodical practice and repetition became second nature.
I think this is kind of universal for music students?
I think this is kind of universal for music students?
These words of wisdom finally allowed me to breakthrough and learn, note for note, "Runnin' With the Devil"...
In a recent interview, the virtuoso pianist Keith Jarrett recalled when he was child learning the piano (he was a prodigy) and one day said to his mother that he didn’t think he could play a certain European classical piece. His mother replied: “can you play the first note?” To which he replied yes. “Can you play the second note?” Yes. “Then you can play this play this piece.”
Or as my father in law used to say: “the hardest thing is to know.” Meaning, when you don’t know how to do something, it seems difficult. After you figure it out and do some work, you know how to do it, and then it is easy.
Or as my father in law used to say: “the hardest thing is to know.” Meaning, when you don’t know how to do something, it seems difficult. After you figure it out and do some work, you know how to do it, and then it is easy.
My copywritten saying goes:
"As I stride down the Road to Perfection, I am bound to stumble across Excellence".
"As I stride down the Road to Perfection, I am bound to stumble across Excellence".
Maybe simply that playing music is a lot less physical than most people think. You don't need to "struggle" with your fingers, you don't need to develop your muscles more than they most likely already are, and you don't really increase your physical speed. Everthing physical you need is already there. Your fingers already can do all the movements they need to play anything (unless it's truly impossibile),
What you rather need with practice, is figuring out how to remove the physical obstacle, or "effort": the tension that builds up everywhere. Where does it come from? Sometimes it comes from a discomfortable environment (bad posture, bad acoustics, distractions). Other times it comes from your mind. It could even come from just not knowing what to play (if your mind is busy figuring out what you should do next, your fingers will also start to tense).
What you rather need with practice, is figuring out how to remove the physical obstacle, or "effort": the tension that builds up everywhere. Where does it come from? Sometimes it comes from a discomfortable environment (bad posture, bad acoustics, distractions). Other times it comes from your mind. It could even come from just not knowing what to play (if your mind is busy figuring out what you should do next, your fingers will also start to tense).
I think it's important to remember that Kato Havas was one of the first (or maybe the first?) professional musicians who acknowledged both stage fright ánd feeling physical discomfort during playing and performances.
Found an interpretation in a thesis by Maria Christina Louw (COORDINATING MIND AND MOVEMENT), excerpt:
4.4.1 Easy or impossible
One of Havas’s favourite sayings is that “playing the violin is never difficult; it is either easy or it is impossible” (Havas, 1973: 136). While all violinists desire to be able to express themselves musically with ease and freedom, this seems to happen only rarely and ostensibly by chance. The harder one tries, the more elusive this state of bliss seems to be. This communicative ease is only possible through finding movements that are self-propelled, as no amount of practise with tense, overworked muscles can ever ensure complete freedom or assurance in performance (Whitman, ascited in Havas, 1968: 96). Through the New Approach, the origins of inhibiting tensions are first uncovered, followed by a step-by-step process whereby they are eliminated. This allows for the development of natural coordinated movements based on balance, not superimposed effort or force. This approach is applied from the very beginning, as the basic problems are the samefor all violinists, whether beginner or advanced (Havas, 1964: Introduction). Havas(1964: 12) likens playing the violin to tightrope walking, where “the right balances must be controlled and coordinated from the very beginning, regardless of whether the rope is stretched near the ground or high in the air”. Through learning balanced movement and avoiding the use of force from the beginning, a violinist can have a beautiful singing tone right from the start – it is a fallacy to believe that it is inevitable for beginners to “screech” on the violin (Havas, 1964: 2). She does recommend, however, that they should not practise on their own until the basic balances are wellestablished (Havas, 1964: Introduction).
Found an interpretation in a thesis by Maria Christina Louw (COORDINATING MIND AND MOVEMENT), excerpt:
4.4.1 Easy or impossible
One of Havas’s favourite sayings is that “playing the violin is never difficult; it is either easy or it is impossible” (Havas, 1973: 136). While all violinists desire to be able to express themselves musically with ease and freedom, this seems to happen only rarely and ostensibly by chance. The harder one tries, the more elusive this state of bliss seems to be. This communicative ease is only possible through finding movements that are self-propelled, as no amount of practise with tense, overworked muscles can ever ensure complete freedom or assurance in performance (Whitman, ascited in Havas, 1968: 96). Through the New Approach, the origins of inhibiting tensions are first uncovered, followed by a step-by-step process whereby they are eliminated. This allows for the development of natural coordinated movements based on balance, not superimposed effort or force. This approach is applied from the very beginning, as the basic problems are the samefor all violinists, whether beginner or advanced (Havas, 1964: Introduction). Havas(1964: 12) likens playing the violin to tightrope walking, where “the right balances must be controlled and coordinated from the very beginning, regardless of whether the rope is stretched near the ground or high in the air”. Through learning balanced movement and avoiding the use of force from the beginning, a violinist can have a beautiful singing tone right from the start – it is a fallacy to believe that it is inevitable for beginners to “screech” on the violin (Havas, 1964: 2). She does recommend, however, that they should not practise on their own until the basic balances are wellestablished (Havas, 1964: Introduction).
Having said this...I can't wait until I'm older and say elusive things that can be interpreted in many ways
My interpretation of 'easy', in the quote is not categorical but specific to the artist. Perhaps, she is saying that one should develop one's strengths and deep dive into one's uniqueness, this way what is easy for one may seem impossible for another.
Completed agree. As Kenny Werner said: all mastery is effortless.
Practice your basics slowly until they are effortless. Then your definition of "basics" changes. Continue.
Practice your basics slowly until they are effortless. Then your definition of "basics" changes. Continue.
Case in point: have you mastered your fingerboard knowledge (where are all the notes)? If so, every note is as easy and fast to find (mentally) as your open E string. If any one note takes you even 1 millisecond more that to locate, you have not (yet) achieved mastery of that most basic skill. I have not (yet).
Once you (I) have gotten close to that, everything else gets that much easier.
Once you (I) have gotten close to that, everything else gets that much easier.
