On Learning a New Piece

I've finished Jeux Interdits (which, btw, I learned was also called Spanish Romance or Romance) a few days ago. The piece needs more polishing, especially part two. Also, not enuf feels yet. But I lala-love the song :)

My next piece is ... Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. At last, at last! I'm using a cheat sheet though. I really shouldn't because I haven't been practicing reading notes. Part of the consequence is I've forgotten to play Adelita, and I haven't reviewed it yet. If it weren't for muscle memory, I swear I wouldn't budge one finger to review Carulli's Andantino in G and Waltz in Em again, which are the first classical pieces I ever learned to play.

Right now I'm still at the fourth bar of Jesu, and now that I've picked up a new piece after a few months of sabbatical I thought I should write something about how I learn a new piece.

I can't really say that there's a step by step process because at some point my fingers and memory fail me and I have to start over. But here's my best explanation:

1. Get sheet. If I can't find a downloadable copy of the piece I search for tabs in Ultimate Guitar. But I usually go straight to UG if I'm too lazy to read sheet music (which is most of the time). There are a few advantages when using sheet music though. Some sheets notate left hand fingering. I also find that when I read tabs I get impatient because the songs seem very long. Since sheet music notates those parts that are just repeated, they read pretty concise.

2. Read sheet. Now, I'm not a savant who can see notes and then automatically translate them to tones in my head. This is for me to get a general idea of the fingering or how many frets I have to traverse. I check if the distance between notes is sane and within the reach of my puny fingers. If I find it too difficult for my level, I put it aside and set my sights on other pieces.

3. YouTube. My best friend. I search for other guitarists and take note of their playing speed and how they phrase the song. A note about YT: It was by searching various interpretations that I realized guitarists have the liberty of changing the lengths of a few notes, creating their own... cadence of sorts. Some formalists may frown at how liberal an interpretation may be. But hey, who's playing?

4. Play sheet. This is the hard part. This is the true test of my patience, tolerance and interest in a particular piece. I usually go bar by bar, repeating more than once after I memorize the succession of notes and their corresponding fingering. A tab is more helpful in this case, since all I have to do is to look and then I'd know where I should place my fingers. A bad practice actually, since I am not training myself to read notes and base my fingering on them.

After I memorize a group of bars, I repeat the phrase as often as I could. By "often," I mean until my brain and muscle memory fail me. When I get too distracted, I rest. I found out that resting is a very important ingredient in learning a new piece. It's just as important as the literal rest notes on the staff. I feel that when I take a break, the nerves in my fingers and brain use the opportunity to make new connections, and really stamp the movement of my fingers deep inside my head. Muscle memory.

I realized that I often play with my guts and rely on muscle memory more than brain memory. When I use my brain, I get more distracted. I dunno. Focus is a matter of how people are used to lose themselves on a task. When I play, I literally lose myself. In moments of self-consciousness, I find that my brain has shut down and the lights are off. I don't think about what I play, I don't process what I sense. I feel I am the music that just has to come out of the instrument.

Haha, andami kong nasabi. That's it for now. El Dia's getting cold.

Assessments

Performers often assess their performances after shows. Here's mine: I have made a total ass of myself yesterday. I don't mind looking like a fool in front of audiences. I can live with personal mistakes (excruciating, but I must bear humiliation and punishment for stupid lapses), but never when they occur at the expense of others. Yesterday I have let my leader down. I have humiliated four dancers in front of tens of audiences. I have shamed them in front of their colleagues. How they managed is inconsequential to me and it doesn't matter that I was able to recover halfway through the number. I have no excuse.

It's amazing how circumstances can take you from the highest high to the lowest. Just this Monday I performed a duet for invocation and three anthems with a violinist friend. Among the audience members were foreigners, representatives from the biggest private corporations in the country, and attendees from different local government units. It wasn't a performance per se (do we count invocations as a performance?). But I felt honored and equally responsible for a good show because I carried the name of my school, and the president the university was present. We made mistakes, but forgivable ones.

Monday was the first time I ever sat and played my guitar in such an atmosphere. Considering that the last "public performance" I gave with my guitar was back in high school. It was a simple, one song number for our class adviser, coming from us graduates. I played alone. As I mentioned, I am dreadfully afraid of solos, which was what made group perfs more bearable pre- and during shows. I don't really know what happened yesterday. I was lead drummer, and I went through all rehearsals (two days' worth) confidently. I know the piece - I have been playing it for the past four years and am as familiar with it as the backs of my hands. I wasn't particularly nervous when it was our turn to play. The result: I fcking missed my beat and I wasn't able to recover.

I felt like an ass seeing the dancers' confused movements, our lead's disappointment painted on her face. Fck fck fck.

Performers always believe they could have done better. We are our worst critics. But often this sentiment isn't just borne out of pride or confidence. Mistakes cannot be erased or redone, and performers always answer to themselves, beyond their team, beyond the dancers and the co-musicians. Right now, I'm just disappointed with myself. I don't think I'll ever live this down and I don't know if I could ever trust myself in the near future. I will forgive in time (in time), but not now. Yesterday was too sickening.

The Big G

The first classical guitar piece I learned was Minuet in G by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The sheet I used covered the basic melody of the piece, sans the bass notes (rhythm). I worked from the 5th fret onward. Very easy to memorize and great for practice: the notes span up to 5 frets, so the pinkie and all the left fingers are stretched. All six strings are also covered, so the PIMA right hand can be practiced.

Minuet in G is my stretching slash warm-up piece. I play it every day, every time I pick up my guitar. I like speeding it up for better flexibility and accuracy. I used to play it non-stop, and until now I haven't tired of listening to it.

I moved on to the more complicated melody + rhythm version about a month after burning the first version. I immediately fell in love with the sound of the bass notes along with the melody. This version takes up til the 9th fret, so I can practice moving through the fingerboard. The addition of the bass notes complicates the left hand positions, but they're manageable. The sheet I linked does not have a notation for 1234 and PAMI (except the 0s there), but I use all of them... figure it out :)

My crux is always on the 19th bar. My index finger tends to look sooo out of place and awkwardly apart, and the rest of my fingers (2 and 4 especially) go crazy when I press the strings. I tend to slow down at this portion. I can swing it when I position my left hand closer to the fingerboard, but that index just shoots up sometimes I couldn't control it! Oh well, time and practice.

This piece was also my (re)introduction to sheet reading. The two sheets don't have tabs, so I was really forced to read notes. Both versions are very basic though.

I eat Big G for breakfast, lunch, merienda and dinner. Lemme know how this piece figures in your repertoire. If you use other warm-up pieces, feel free to share.

Mar 11, 2013. Just uploaded this video. Sorry for the poor audio -- I didn't use a mic when I recorded. Didn't have one. Anyway, my messy fingering clearly says this rendition sucks. As usual, I had a difficult time through the crux. My left hand fingers are also still awkwardly apart. Wild vibrato action there too. Hmmm, when in doubt record your practice sessions. Any specific pointers on improvement?

Misplaced Notes, Missing Lyrics

Have you ever experienced pausing midway of a song and trying to grab on to nothing?

I often find myself suspended in that limbo. No matter how many times I play back a song, no matter how many times I practice, I forget the words or where to place my fingers. This is why I don't trust myself to perform solos. No way. Or at least not now.

I read somewhere that such forgetfulness is borne out of distraction. But in my case, no. I do not think of anything else when I play. Well... I do not think of anything at all. Not even the piece. I don't run pieces in my head when I play, like watching a dummy board when talking in front of cameras. I tend to rely on hard wired muscle memory, using the succession of notes to cue me in on the words.

I tried playing with a dummy board in my mind, but found myself more prone to mistakes. I tried reading words and sheets while playing. I paused more often than necessary. With memorization, I play (relatively) smoothly and more tranquilly. I hate dependence on the sheets and papers.

But there's a point where a song just stops. It doesn't want to work with me. And I'm clasping empty air, missed notes and lyrics. I rehash the song from the beginning and find myself pausing at the same moments, losing more as I trudge along. Falling on quicksand. Another song has moved beyond me, not wanting to cooperate.

In due time, my head and hands finally get it. But it's never the same magic.