sitaram@uwvax.ARPA (06/13/84)
> An important thing to consider when just starting out is the > playability or "action" of the guitar. It's a lot harder to get > motivated to practice if, after an hour's practice, you have furrows > suitable for farming on you fingertips. > Dave Bartley The following is from "The Life of Music in North India" by Daniel E. Neuman. He was learning the sarod, a guitar-like instrument. "Often when I met musicians, the first thing they asked me was whether I had been practicing hard; and while saying this, one would take my left hand and look at my nails and cuticles for the 'hard' evidence. If the cuticles were built up into a horny ridge, and if my nails had grooves at the point where the nail meets the cuticle, then the evidence was there. If it showed that I had practiced diligently, they would, so to speak,pass the hand around for other musicians to inspect. There were times when my practice was less than perfect, and I sometimes seriously considered cutting grooves in my nails with a file, so that I would look more accomplished than I was....." "One can ask, though, about listening for accomplishment of technique. This was done from time to time, more out of politeness than from any genuine interest; for genuine interest I had to rely on the condition of my nails, and this puzzled me. It also disturbed me, because I was proud of what I had learned, and, although I would be reticent about performing for others, I was also very flattered when asked and rarely protested with any conviction. But the fingernails were the real proof, and my aesthetic sensibilities were not attuned to a fingernail performance. I had yet to learn the beauty of muti- lated cuticles, because I did not understand that it was this which constituted evidence of the student's dedication to his art. The practiced eye could guage very accurately how much practice had been accomplished and from it - a measure of meaning - the degree of dedication, for this last is having and understanding meaning." Dinkar Sitaram