Così 4: Listless, couldn't follow my processes. Couldn't accept stuff, unwilling to "fix" it. Then I remembered that earlier in the day I had listened to a recording of an education project I was involved in. There was a bit where I was playing stab chords and I played a wrong note on a couple of them. At the time it didn't seem to matter - it was all a good noise, and in the spirit of the music. But on the recording it just sounds duff. I thought how important it is to be simply right. It makes the music work. I was reminded of a figure that has come up for me occasionally in the last year or so. I call him the 1950's schoolmaster. He is exacting, hard-working, rather old-fashioned, does things by the book. He is rather inflexible, and I see him as wearing a tweed jacket and sporting a small moustache. When I imagined myself as him, my playing got better, I sat up straight with concentration. I felt a little stiff, but not in a debilitating way, and my energy levels went up dramatically.
Monday, 7 June 2010
