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Anyone else labeled as obsessed?
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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 RE: Anyone else labeled as obsessed? (in reply to trivium91)
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I didn’t name it obsession at the time.
Although her family was well off, my wife went to university on a four year classical piano scholarship. She started playing at age five. Her parents were advised it might be better to wait for a couple of years, but they felt she would play anyhow, so she might as well have professional instruction.
I started playing trumpet at age nine, and was paid to play professionally at 16.
When my math/physics university schedule kept me out of symphony and concert band, I started fooling around with guitar. After a few years I was fairly proficient. Then I took a job where I traveled often, away from home days, sometimes weeks at a time. With lack of practice my technique decayed. It became so annoying I vowed to quit.
But when I got back home the guitar soon came out of its case. Then it was off traveling again, back home, guitar frustration…
Taking longer than it should have, the solution finally occurred to me. I bought a Mark Leaf case and started taking a guitar with me as checked airline baggage. The case was a heavy monster, but it was worth the trouble.
My wife and most of my good friends were accomplished musicians, so no one thought it odd. It never occurred to me to see myself as obsessed. I just couldn’t stop playing the guitar.
I still do. At my age I have to practice regularly to keep it up.
RNJ
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Jan. 6 2023 3:33:46
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devilhand
Posts: 1598
Joined: Oct. 15 2019
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RE: Anyone else labeled as obsessed? (in reply to trivium91)
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If everything written here is true, I really need to step up my game.
quote:
ORIGINAL: guitarristamadrid
After I had been in Spain for not too long, I met a number of people who knew or had known Paco, Sabicas, Gerardo, etc. They all said these guys would practice for many hours every day. Pedro of Pedro de Miguel guitarras told me that he once saw Sabicas play for seven hours straight, after which he congratulated him for his dedication. Sabicas laughed and said "Eso no es estudiar" (implying that seven hours wasn't that much)
Entri has told me a number of stories about Paco where the guy just practiced obscene amounts of hours, blowing off all kinds of social events and other things in order to play picado exercises. One morning after a concert series had just ended Paco was apparently awake at the hotel at 7am sharp, practicing slow scales out on the balcony. Entri's brother, who was on tour with him, told him to stop and come inside and sleep, to which Paco said "Have you seen how our uncle Sabicas used to play? We can never stop practicing"
Entri told me that Canizares went through a period where he was obsessed with picado, and he practiced for one year, eight hours a day, just playing picado. After that there was some flamenco event where all the famous players met up (forget the details) and Entri said Canizares was playing better than everyone else.
Gerardo at one point apparently spent all his time in a bar in Madrid which had a sort of cave underneath it, and he would just practice all day long there and the bartender would bring him down food. Before this he wasn't as successful a player as he is now, but he reached some point where he got really serious about it and started going down to the cave and working on technique constantly, and after that was when his career really took off.
_____________________________
Say No to Fuera de Compás!!!
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 30 2023 22:37:07
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Ricardo
Posts: 14797
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Anyone else labeled as obsessed? (in reply to devilhand)
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quote:
If everything written here is true, I really need to step up my game.
Those are anecdotes. They don’t have to be “true”, but you take them as “where there is smoke, there is fire”. Keep in mind, practicing in Spain, very nearby to top level artists, and working shoulder to shoulder with some of them, for any amount of time, is not the same as practicing the wrong thing in your bedroom alone in some foreign country for hours a day, years and years, with no flamenco guitar.
Who is entri’s brother? I know his sons and nephews are quite good. None “toured” with Paco de Lucia. Cañizares was decent but Paco’s nephew Jose was clearly faster or more efficient, and both can be seen touring with paco de Lucia. Paco Cepero was as fast as or faster than Paco de Lucia and the rest of the picado famous guys. He toured with Gerardo Nuñez, and soon after Paco de Lucia mentioned Nuñez in interviews…that is when Gerardo got famous. I don’t know about any “caves” but I do know that he would annoy his neighbors in Madrid (he is from Jerez, and now has a home in Sanlucar de Barrameda where he gives classes in the summer, in addition to his Madrid home). Nuñez was working with Morente in 1995, and should have done the siguiriyas piece in the film. Due to some jealously of Sanlucar (he was not keen on Nuñez teaching in his home town) the music director Isidro (brother of Manolo Sanlucar) decided to pair Cañizares with Morente…hence the drop B tuning mess that he tried to do for him. Nuñez would have been MORE famous and respected by aficionados IMO, if he had been featured in that movie. He is a very humble guy…like Moraito, when he toured the USA flamenco festival he came with small billing as accompanist for Carmen Linares. The only two top dog guitar players that I have seen willing to do that.
We know for fact, Antonio Rey, after playing a full live stream concert, returned to his hotel promptly and FaceTimed a 3 hour practice session, hot off the stage. That is the realistic type thing going on with your quote. It is something for the cream to stay on top.
Playing with love, creativity, and deep understanding of the formal structure, is very different than doing exercises. John Williams, my personal favorite classical guitarist, has a huge repertoire but refuses to practice more than 30 minutes a day. That type of thing I don’t understand, because if you truly love music and it is not just “your job”, you have no choice but to spend time with the instrument, or at least active listening (learning) new music (or reading through material if you don’t have recordings).
_____________________________
CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date May 31 2023 11:59:41
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