In the evening I feel like practicing some Division of Attention. A follow-up on the pre-OCG course material.
First go through the brief relaxation exercise.
Set up the metronome at BPM 69
Give attention to the limbs.
Go through all 3 parts individually:
1) Feet tap with the metronome in quarter notes:
Left - Right - Right
2) Hands clap in eighth notes:
Left - Right - Right
3) Count 4 bars of 3 in sixteenth notes:
1-2-3-2-2-3-3-2-3-4-2-3
Then work on the pairs: 1 & 2 together, 1 & 3 and 2 & 3.
Then do all three together, so 3 different speeds running at the same time. I'm surprised it clicks straightaway. Change the count to 3 bars of 4 and alternate counts.
A short, but quality practice. I have a lot of feel for this kind of work and will continue on a regular basis soon.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
3rd March 2009
Before practice I was on the phone with my sister and told her I was about to do some GC guitar practice in order to ground myself. She asked what does it mean? To come back to 'here and now', was my answer. I guess it sounds a bit serious.
Split the hour into 2 sections:
1) Right hand. Work with mirror to check the alignment of the hand when moving to different strings. In my case the point is to be connected with the body. If i don't and tense, the old habits take over and the wrist arches, as pointed out during one personal meeting in SC. I add some counting to practice division of attention.
Also work on the relationship neck - wrist in the Alexander sense.
2) Strengthening the left hand. Work on two exercises i got from MS in Sant Cugat.
Split the hour into 2 sections:
1) Right hand. Work with mirror to check the alignment of the hand when moving to different strings. In my case the point is to be connected with the body. If i don't and tense, the old habits take over and the wrist arches, as pointed out during one personal meeting in SC. I add some counting to practice division of attention.
Also work on the relationship neck - wrist in the Alexander sense.
2) Strengthening the left hand. Work on two exercises i got from MS in Sant Cugat.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
13th February 2009
13th FEBRUARY
Today my day at home was spent on completing the recording plan.
As for the pieces:
STATION RELOCATED: Recording this one was beyond me. It wasn't integrated in the hands, actually even the form wasn't clearly defined (!) I couldn't get anywhere close to honourable/acceptable recording of it.
BE, HERE: The recording has been completed about an hour before leaving to work. A lot of struggle and tension along the way. I don't think the mood of the piece reflects it, but delivery of it certainly does. I think with few more days available it would mature and benefit from it. Tuning was the main issue here. I'm not really satisfied with this recording, and for sure i'm going to re-record it. To my far from impartial ears at the moment, the tuning in the piece sucks. But I'm happy with the piece itself.
Here's the link to it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/87606420/81b5d1d1/be_here.html
Some reflections/comments:
Simplicity can be deceivly difficult, excessive thinking interferes with the process.
Acoustic recording exposes every detail of playing - there's nowhere to hide here, really, with no effects, or overdrive.
Something to improve for the future - scheduling/pacing the work. When it came to the recording the pieces were not really ready. I think it added to the difficulty and stressed me out.
There were too many takes. Next time once I have the piece defined, I'm going to practice it (and underlying Primaries), until the hands 'got it' - then just 3 takes.
I was too critical about myself. I think this was rather unhealthy, it wasn't very constructive criticism.
Each piece seems to need its own time to grow on its own, projecting on it in a rush doesn't help. There wasn't enough time for this piece to grow in its own natural way.
A work colleague commented that he thought the writing should be spontaneous. My plan with the deadline was just one specific approach to writing. This technique is not only about guitar/recording/music. And without this challenge this piece wouldn't be written for sure.
Many lessons in this process. I enjoyed one aspect of it: writing for 3 guitars. Wonder at discovering the parts, balancing the piece out.
My sense is that it's not a piece for My Space site, so I decided to trust it and let the site go for now.
Today my day at home was spent on completing the recording plan.
As for the pieces:
STATION RELOCATED: Recording this one was beyond me. It wasn't integrated in the hands, actually even the form wasn't clearly defined (!) I couldn't get anywhere close to honourable/acceptable recording of it.
BE, HERE: The recording has been completed about an hour before leaving to work. A lot of struggle and tension along the way. I don't think the mood of the piece reflects it, but delivery of it certainly does. I think with few more days available it would mature and benefit from it. Tuning was the main issue here. I'm not really satisfied with this recording, and for sure i'm going to re-record it. To my far from impartial ears at the moment, the tuning in the piece sucks. But I'm happy with the piece itself.
Here's the link to it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/87606420/81b5d1d1/be_here.html
Some reflections/comments:
Simplicity can be deceivly difficult, excessive thinking interferes with the process.
Acoustic recording exposes every detail of playing - there's nowhere to hide here, really, with no effects, or overdrive.
Something to improve for the future - scheduling/pacing the work. When it came to the recording the pieces were not really ready. I think it added to the difficulty and stressed me out.
There were too many takes. Next time once I have the piece defined, I'm going to practice it (and underlying Primaries), until the hands 'got it' - then just 3 takes.
I was too critical about myself. I think this was rather unhealthy, it wasn't very constructive criticism.
Each piece seems to need its own time to grow on its own, projecting on it in a rush doesn't help. There wasn't enough time for this piece to grow in its own natural way.
A work colleague commented that he thought the writing should be spontaneous. My plan with the deadline was just one specific approach to writing. This technique is not only about guitar/recording/music. And without this challenge this piece wouldn't be written for sure.
Many lessons in this process. I enjoyed one aspect of it: writing for 3 guitars. Wonder at discovering the parts, balancing the piece out.
My sense is that it's not a piece for My Space site, so I decided to trust it and let the site go for now.
12th February 2009
Guitar work today:
1st session:
Look at individual sections of the pieces and how can they be improved in delivery, quality exercise.
For example: being able to play section 3 of guitar 1 with counting, or checking the principle of sufficiency for the left hand when playing section 4 for guitar 2, or moving changing the positions of chords from section 5 - sounds better.
Concise practice.
And as for the fast piece I decided to make it shorter, the 2 sections just don't work together. It seems that sometimes less (quantity) is more (quality)
------
Later on just work on the 3-part piece, and get stuck. And these tuning difficulties with it...
I don't seem to get anywhere with this and decide to let it go after 3.am. I've spent about 6 hours with guitar today. Anyway, the anger and frustration won't make it.
1st session:
Look at individual sections of the pieces and how can they be improved in delivery, quality exercise.
For example: being able to play section 3 of guitar 1 with counting, or checking the principle of sufficiency for the left hand when playing section 4 for guitar 2, or moving changing the positions of chords from section 5 - sounds better.
Concise practice.
And as for the fast piece I decided to make it shorter, the 2 sections just don't work together. It seems that sometimes less (quantity) is more (quality)
------
Later on just work on the 3-part piece, and get stuck. And these tuning difficulties with it...
I don't seem to get anywhere with this and decide to let it go after 3.am. I've spent about 6 hours with guitar today. Anyway, the anger and frustration won't make it.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Division of Attention (12th February 2009)
Practice without a guitar, so file these notes under a separate heading.
25 minutes.
Relax, come back to myself and to the physical surroundings. Sense my feet on the floor, sense the hands placed on the legs.
Metronome at 76.
1st pattern: FEET tap quarter notes with the metronome:
Left Right Right.
Relax into this and integrate into the body.
Add the 2nd pattern: HANDS clap the on the legs in the double speed - eighth notes:
Left Right Right.
Relax into this. Direct the attention to the patterns, sense the feet and hands.
Once this is becoming established/automatic, move on and reverse the hands pattern:
Right Left Left.
It's a struggle, and several times I stop, and begin again.
Finally work on alternating between two patterns of the hands: LRR & RLL, 4 bars of 3 each and this repeated 3 times. The feet carry on with the same pattern.
It's a challenge and few times while I'm nearly there, usually in the last few bars everything collapses. Once even the very last foot tap is Left instead of Right, hilarious. It's all due to thinking too much about it. Almost like an end-gaining, according to my current understanding of Alexander's idea.
At one point walk around the room, to let go, begin again. Finally got it.
Comments: it was an opportunity to observe my reactions to 'failure' and also how the thinking interferes with the activity. The failures were due to the unncessary mind activity.
25 minutes.
Relax, come back to myself and to the physical surroundings. Sense my feet on the floor, sense the hands placed on the legs.
Metronome at 76.
1st pattern: FEET tap quarter notes with the metronome:
Left Right Right.
Relax into this and integrate into the body.
Add the 2nd pattern: HANDS clap the on the legs in the double speed - eighth notes:
Left Right Right.
Relax into this. Direct the attention to the patterns, sense the feet and hands.
Once this is becoming established/automatic, move on and reverse the hands pattern:
Right Left Left.
It's a struggle, and several times I stop, and begin again.
Finally work on alternating between two patterns of the hands: LRR & RLL, 4 bars of 3 each and this repeated 3 times. The feet carry on with the same pattern.
It's a challenge and few times while I'm nearly there, usually in the last few bars everything collapses. Once even the very last foot tap is Left instead of Right, hilarious. It's all due to thinking too much about it. Almost like an end-gaining, according to my current understanding of Alexander's idea.
At one point walk around the room, to let go, begin again. Finally got it.
Comments: it was an opportunity to observe my reactions to 'failure' and also how the thinking interferes with the activity. The failures were due to the unncessary mind activity.
11th February
In the evening grab the guitar and continue working on the air/just be here. The second guitar is 90% defined now. I record the working version of the first 2 parts to help working on the third part. It comes up fairly quickly and is nearly there. Tomorrow I'm going to spend a day polishing it and record it in the evening. Also present the progress of the work to Marek and he doesn't run away screaming.
And the message/file from Vienna arrives too. Thomas checked out the '9 dias' wave and the sound quality much improved!
Anyway, bet you can't play 2 notes at the same time?
And the message/file from Vienna arrives too. Thomas checked out the '9 dias' wave and the sound quality much improved!
Anyway, bet you can't play 2 notes at the same time?
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
10th February 2009
A productive day.
I spend 45 minutes in the afternoon, working on the 2nd piece.
And then in the evening mostly focus on the slow piece. The bass line is defined now, the notes and timing is there. The second part is nearly there, it just needs some fine tuning and most likely will be ready by tomorrow. The third part is going to be kind of a filler, harmony etc.
I was quite happy to find a way of recording extra tracks without hearing a confusing delay. It was actually quite easy, one can turn the volume down of individual parts.
Amongst Agnieszka's picture was one of a beetroot face, fits well with the colour of the wallpaper!
I spend 45 minutes in the afternoon, working on the 2nd piece.
And then in the evening mostly focus on the slow piece. The bass line is defined now, the notes and timing is there. The second part is nearly there, it just needs some fine tuning and most likely will be ready by tomorrow. The third part is going to be kind of a filler, harmony etc.
I was quite happy to find a way of recording extra tracks without hearing a confusing delay. It was actually quite easy, one can turn the volume down of individual parts.
Amongst Agnieszka's picture was one of a beetroot face, fits well with the colour of the wallpaper!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
9th February 2009
Primaries.
Right hand:
Begin with relaxing and letting go.
Check out the hand when placed over the strings. Find out that rotating the lower arm is a good way of checking out the tensions, which actually come back to the shoulders, in my case. Do this, release and relax, repeat few times, there seems to be more freedom in the limb after this.
Then have a game of beginning with the arm hanging loose at the side and then bringing it to the position of readiness and striking string A with intention, without looking. The results: A, A, D, A, A, A, A.
Alternate picking:
On one string: playing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th beat of the bar.
Patterns DDAA DAAD AADD ADDA counting in 4, and then switching to 3. Divide Attention.
Left hand:
Anchor exercise.
End with DV3
-------
Play later, but not for long, not much time left for it today.
Right hand:
Begin with relaxing and letting go.
Check out the hand when placed over the strings. Find out that rotating the lower arm is a good way of checking out the tensions, which actually come back to the shoulders, in my case. Do this, release and relax, repeat few times, there seems to be more freedom in the limb after this.
Then have a game of beginning with the arm hanging loose at the side and then bringing it to the position of readiness and striking string A with intention, without looking. The results: A, A, D, A, A, A, A.
Alternate picking:
On one string: playing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th beat of the bar.
Patterns DDAA DAAD AADD ADDA counting in 4, and then switching to 3. Divide Attention.
Left hand:
Anchor exercise.
End with DV3
-------
Play later, but not for long, not much time left for it today.
Monday, 9 February 2009
8th February 2009
Calisthenics session (1 hour):
First 45 minutes of the right hand work, with metronome at 40 BPM.
Begin with one note per two beats: first note out of time, second note out of time, third note on time, fourth note out of time, getting there...
Then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 notes per beat.
While progressing with the speed work with different exercises/aspects of the work, for example Division of Attention (4 against 5).
A balancing act, this.
Then stretching exercise for the left hand and one exercise i got from Mikael in January 2005, somehow i remember.
Nutritious practice, so to speak, put the money in the bank at the end.
-------
and later on - play, no metronome.
9 days: record more takes of it.
Station North: let go of the second part for now, and what used to be intro became the end of the piece. There's a completely new intro that appeared last time i worked on it, so the station moved.
Air: The framework is there, and probably is going to stay like this. Working on the other guitar parts, the parts are gradually balancing out.
First 45 minutes of the right hand work, with metronome at 40 BPM.
Begin with one note per two beats: first note out of time, second note out of time, third note on time, fourth note out of time, getting there...
Then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 notes per beat.
While progressing with the speed work with different exercises/aspects of the work, for example Division of Attention (4 against 5).
A balancing act, this.
Then stretching exercise for the left hand and one exercise i got from Mikael in January 2005, somehow i remember.
Nutritious practice, so to speak, put the money in the bank at the end.
-------
and later on - play, no metronome.
9 days: record more takes of it.
Station North: let go of the second part for now, and what used to be intro became the end of the piece. There's a completely new intro that appeared last time i worked on it, so the station moved.
Air: The framework is there, and probably is going to stay like this. Working on the other guitar parts, the parts are gradually balancing out.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
6th February
Practice on the grand scale today - 10 minutes of left finger strengthening and stretching.
Friday, 6 February 2009
5th February
A difficult day today, but I manage to practice for half an hour, remembering that better good and attentive 30 minutes than a dispersed hour.
Half of this is actually inhibiting and collecting myself. Good response to the moment.
Then practice Primaries, with care.
Half of this is actually inhibiting and collecting myself. Good response to the moment.
Then practice Primaries, with care.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
4th February
Before continuing the work with the pieces work on the Calisthenics - check out the relaxation and the release in the right hand and work on strengthening left hand fingers. Straight after this I proceed with Chi Kung and immediately back to guitar. Great stuff, a completely new intro of the Station North appears, I was struggling with the old one, but find it very easy to let it go now. How much of the piece I can actually let go of?
Agnieszka sent me pictures she has taken last time in Poland. One of them is already on the left side of this page.
Agnieszka sent me pictures she has taken last time in Poland. One of them is already on the left side of this page.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
3rd February
I practice without metronome/watch today.
Go through the new piece and improve the individual sections, some of the areas to look at: achieving the even sound of notes when playing pull-on/pull off, or right hand accuracy - playing on 2, 3, 4 & 5 strings.
Also play through 9 days and G gigue, work more on the third piece.
One hour of this.
Go through the new piece and improve the individual sections, some of the areas to look at: achieving the even sound of notes when playing pull-on/pull off, or right hand accuracy - playing on 2, 3, 4 & 5 strings.
Also play through 9 days and G gigue, work more on the third piece.
One hour of this.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
2nd February
Sit down to practice early during the day.
Very slow metronome practice: empty string, anchor, DV3.
Then work on developing Station North, in a playful manner, the piece has pretty much clear structure now. Also keep working on the other piece (Now). Simple piece.
Very slow metronome practice: empty string, anchor, DV3.
Then work on developing Station North, in a playful manner, the piece has pretty much clear structure now. Also keep working on the other piece (Now). Simple piece.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
31/01/09
Warm up calisthenics with the metronome first, approached in a playful way. Various figures in 16th notes (bpm = 80) One phrase develops from it and I catch it for the recording. A final phrase, as the AAD exercise of Writing & Recording Exercise completes today.
Here it is:
http://www.4shared.com/file/83443413/48480042/2009-01-31_-_WR.html
Work on the new piece (Station North is a working title). Also take one phrase and approach it as a 'quality exercise'. Record it to have a better look at it, play it to Belen as well.
Here it is:
http://www.4shared.com/file/83443413/48480042/2009-01-31_-_WR.html
Work on the new piece (Station North is a working title). Also take one phrase and approach it as a 'quality exercise'. Record it to have a better look at it, play it to Belen as well.
Friday, 30 January 2009
30/01/09
I put the new strings on today: it was high time! Play and a new piece slowly emerges...
I'm going to write and record 2 pieces before the end of the AAD course and set up the My Space site.
I begin preparation with one solid hour of right hand Primaries. Give attention to my breathing and sense of the body presence. Begin slowly, gradually increase the speed and push it to my limits and stay there for a while and push it a bit further, then gradually slow down and come back to grounding. Kind of Yin & Yang balance for the right hand.
Later during the day I catch up with W&R exercise. The recording gear works! dozy boy just didn't notice the volume on the preamp was turned down. Record last 3 days phrases plus one from today. Tomorrow the work with the exercise ends.
I'm going to write and record 2 pieces before the end of the AAD course and set up the My Space site.
I begin preparation with one solid hour of right hand Primaries. Give attention to my breathing and sense of the body presence. Begin slowly, gradually increase the speed and push it to my limits and stay there for a while and push it a bit further, then gradually slow down and come back to grounding. Kind of Yin & Yang balance for the right hand.
Later during the day I catch up with W&R exercise. The recording gear works! dozy boy just didn't notice the volume on the preamp was turned down. Record last 3 days phrases plus one from today. Tomorrow the work with the exercise ends.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
29/01/09
Mostly play again, but also with some systematic metronome practice. I worked on C major arpeggios (chords of 6ths) over the fret-board.
Something clicked for me when I went for it, it seemed like the right move.
Something clicked for me when I went for it, it seemed like the right move.
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