1.2 - More Notes: Practising and Unhelpful Semantics

So, this was intended to follow up on my previous blog post, ‘Getting into Music, First Steps and Some Ideas on Resilience’. In that post, there were some things I was going to expand on: 

1.…‘hold on to whatever music transports you; elevates you; moves you. They are powerful ideas and will drive you to practice, but that’s just it – it has to be your practice.

[…] 

2. Whilst practice has to happen, don’t think of it as a chore. It’s only effective if you want to do it.’

So, on that first point, it was predominantly AC/DC’s and Thin Lizzy‘s back catalogue that I kept listening to as a kid. I “commandeered” my Dad’s CD player and headphones so often that I was given an 80GB iPod Classic [remember those?!] one Christmas. In purely guitar terms, I found something captivating in the raw energy of the AC/DC recordings, but I more clearly remember loving the fluidity of Lizzy’s twin guitar approach on tracks like ‘Wild One’, ‘She Knows’ and ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’. This was furthered by the albums with Gary Moore and his playing on ‘Sarah’ and ‘Waiting For An Alibi’. 

I should point out that I did not know this is what I liked about them at the time, I was just having a good time listening. What you just read is the clearest description my post-music degree brain can remember about my childhood music taste.

There was something about this music that transported my mind to being on a stage playing this in front of people. The thought of being able to emotionally lift people just by what I’m playing on a guitar seemed amazing and exciting. I remember thinking ‘I’d like to try this; this is fun.’ So, once again, I “commandeered” my Dad’s Squire Strat that inhabited a corner of the house and attempted to work out how it was all done (with little success by the way, I would not have persevered if it weren’t for my teachers). 

The key point here isn’t the slightly embarrassing walk down memory lane, but the key words that often come up when people describe such events. For instance, ‘captivating’; ‘good time’; ‘exciting’; and, most importantly; ‘fun’.

Don’t Practice:

Did I, a music teacher, just tell you not to practice? Well, sort of. This is where we meet semantics (which we’ll just define as “the meaning of words”). I don’t really listen to those bands much anymore, and they certainly don’t move me emotionally in the same way they used to. But, the important thing is that they made me want to play the guitar; they made it seem fun. 

As a teacher, I see this all the time, especially in younger students. “Practice” is kind of an ugly word. It evokes phrases like “practice routine” and links to words like “regime”, “homework” and “schedule” – the idea that “I have to do this”. This generally isn’t very good for learning musical instruments. These days, I try to substitute saying ‘things to practice this week…’ for ‘when you’re playing this week…’ – this difference is really positive. So, to boil it down once again: ‘don’t think of it as a chore. It’s only effective if you want to do it.’ 

Wrap Up:

“How can I design a practice schedule?”

“What technique do I need to prioritise in my learning?”

“What’s the most efficient way to do xyz?”

If you find yourself asking these sorts of questions, I would be a little wary. There’s nothing wrong in targeting specific things you want to work on, and most of us only have limited time to practi- sorry, play guitar. However, I think it is advisable to always check in with the emotional element. It definitely feels a bit Patch Adams, and is definitely more applicable to beginners than anyone else but, if it feels good to play, then it’s okay. If it feels like something you want to be able to play, then try and learn it (or ask your teacher about it – obviously there will be things that are too much for any given ability). Music is innately emotional and you have to be honest with yourself and everyone else about what you specifically like in music. If there’s music that moves you, learn it. Even if you realise you don’t actually like it, you’re still a better and more learned musician for having explored it and the skills/knowledge you picked up can still be useful elsewhere. 

I’ll stop with the faux-Yoda wisdom now and sign off now with a nice, simple idea:

It is impossible to waste your time learning something if that something emotionally excites you. Everyone should play what seems like fun. 

Dan