Scott's Studio

[lmh]

CGI 2010 is in the history books! This year CGI was its usual top notch learning experience with a number of new twists. Here are my first random impressions (using first names only). Please add your own!!

THE VENUE

The new venue this year was the Falcon Arts Community, which was a whole new experience and a whole new set of impressions:

Superb nearby African Restaurant, Drama rehearsals down the hall, practicing in art studios, McMenamin’s bar food, Cool concrete hallways, art on the walls and on stands in the hallway ranging from the beautiful to the disturbing, Anatomically correct bathroom signs, being shot by a resident professional photographer, coffee and vegetarian sandwiches from across the street, three kittens, buzz opening door lock, ensemble practice, shaking hands, guitar guitar guitar, intensity intensity intensity, not enough practice time, . . .


SCOTT QUOTES:

Scotts teaching, as always, ranged from the pithy to the picky, was always entertaining and raised the level of everyone’s playing. Some examples:

“Never play a piece faster than you can play it.”

“There is a disconnect between what you are doing and what you think you are doing. That is why it is good to tape yourself.”

“Amazing things happen when you just pretend to be someone else.”

“Specific comments from the audience are important. Look especially for issues where there is a consistency among the comments.”

“Two things that will improve your playing more than anything else are recording yourself and performing.”

“At one performance the director suggested that I play one piece standing with my foot up on a chair so I could rest my guitar on my leg. As I started to play I suddenly couldn’t remember whether I had forgotten to zip up my fly. I spent the entire piece resisting the temptation to look down.”

“Remember, it is ok to make mistakes” then (after a little delay) to Mike (our resident American Airlines Pilot) “that does not apply to flying the airplanes”

“Once we get beyond the technical stuff my job is really to help you to get out of your own way.”

“We call them pull offs. But, really, done properly they should be called pluck offs. At this point in this piece you need a fast furious forceful pluck off.” (and he said it without mistakes!)


SUCCESSES:

As always the best thing about CGI was the people. A wide variety of professions were represented, including accountants, computer professionals, Real Estate developer, financial planner, airline pilot, lawyer, actor, high school student, etc. Here are some random recollections:

We had a new youngest member this year. A high school sophomore, Talon came from Pingree Idaho on a scholarship to the guitar camp of his choice, which he won by placing first in a local music competition.

On Wednesday – in keeping with their motto “A fat guitar player is a happy guitar player” - Lee and Mike brought doughnuts. They gained a small moral victory for our New Hampshire contingent by blackmailing (no doughnuts if you don’t have some coffee) Scott into drinking coffee from a “Box ‘O Joe” (albeit an improvised Oregon version of a Box O Joe)

Our oldest (Sue - sorry, Sue, even though you are a year younger this year you still beat out the competition) and youngest (Talon) members played with such cool in the Performance Anxiety Rehabilitation class Scott practically had to teach them to experience Performance Anxiety before he could rehabilitate them!

Quote:
Lee: Shall we get a pot of coffee for today?
Sue: Does a Bear S - -t in the woods?

Tom opened the final performance with Santiago de Murca’s Prelude and Allegro, setting the stage for the entire concert which proved to be most everybody’s best playing of the week.

Greg’s performance of Lagrima not only brought to mind the tears for which it was named but set the stage for Jerry’s Tarrega pieces (Endecha and Caprico)

New this year was ensemble playing which was both experimental and successful. In the final performance there were two quartets as well as a duet by Tom and Doug on sister satinwood guitars.

Jerry and Patrick both brought their wives who explored Portland while we were exploring the dungeons of the Falcon Arts Community. They became experts on navigating the city and learned that GPS systems with a British accent cannot be trusted.

A new level of the disease GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) was reached by Patrick who has so many guitars no one is sure of the exact count. Rumor (and Mrs Patrick) puts the number at 40 to 45 (and he is still married!!!)

Charlie came all the way from Georgia to entertain us with Guardame Las Vacas which brought great compliments from the audience.

Jerry (I don’t know how to spell Gerarde) needs to spend more time with Patrick as he is still in the hunt for his ultimate guitar and is being very reserved about making a new acquisition – we even confirmed that Mrs Jerry has no objection to a new acquisition! What is the problem Jerry??? A new guitar would be way more fun that Giraffe jokes!!!

Lee & Brent provided everyone with their daily ration of Silvius Leopold Weiss (our condolences to Patrick)

Jack (who, in a questionable juxtaposition of priorities, missed the first day to attend the US Open at Pebble Beach) had to make a last minute change in pieces and still managed to pull off an excellent performance.

Justin’s fresh view on pretty much everything kept us all entertained and he still managed an excellent performance on Thurday.

Alexander not only played excellently at the PAR performance but also coached one of the quartets to a successful performance and made CD’s of the master classes for everyone.

Saturday night’s dinner and final goodbye’s came all too soon. I found it hard to believe it was all over soon for another year.

Of course plans for next year are already under way.
_________________
lmh

[scott]

What a great week. Lee, thanks for reminding us of the highlights. For me, it's always the performance that finishes the week. One of the things that makes CGI a unique experience is that EVERYONE participates, whether it be in the Master Class (performing for a public audience on the final night), or the Performance Anxiety Workshop performers who perform for CGI members only on Thursday.

Each performer played his or her best on the final performance - getting a piece up a couple of notches in one week, with that kind of pressure (me brow beating throughout the week), is a testament to the dedication and untapped abilities which we all posses. Although one can't sustain this kind of effort all the time, doing this once a year can catapult and transform your playing by six months. I couldn't have been more proud of each and every one of your for your effort.

I've never had more fun at CGI. By Wednesday I had resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to get any sleep and would be running on the faithful BOX-O-JOE that magically appeared each morning (and an occasional cigar with my new buddy Patrick).

Thanks to all of you for efforts to get here and be here - and thanks to your spouses and children for sharing you with us all for what turned out to be an all-too-brief week.

Yes, plans are already being laid for 2011.....more in the next week or two. Get some rest everyone.....

[Brent]

Yes, another great year, more fine teaching, another group of new friends, and another fine recital. Highlights for me:

Meeting Charlie for the first time at the PDX airport, guitar case at his side, and looking like he needed a CGI.

And seeing Tom again at the same airport pickup.

Gerry explaining how hearing the Weiss Allemande was like coming home, but that he could never play it because it wasn't Spanish. Then, at the end of the week, how he was going to make room for it in his repertoire.

Delivering Charlie and Tom to the Chapel on the first night, only to find out we were the only ones there. Venue change, and I missed the signal.

Hearing how everyone had improved since the first time I met them.

Watching Patrick's lesson with Scott on Julia Florida, and hearing enormous changes in the space of 30 minutes: melody popping out, connected, and lyrical.

Seeing the West Coast Box 'o Joe. Handwritten, no less.

Playing through everybody's pieces during break times.

Skipping lunch while Tom went for sandwiches so I could steal some practice time.

Trying to guess what Scott was going to choose to work on with each of the MC participants.

Two satinwood guitars on one stage!

Playing The Mysterious Barbeques with Sue.

Alexander quit acting and just played at the PAR performance. Wow.

Sharing the stage with Lee and SL Weiss at the recital.

Greg in the recital, rhythms all smoothed out and perfectly in time.

Playing the Xote with Jack, Alexander, and Lee.

Realizing I'm a CGI old-timer: 2005 SoS, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

Seeing Karla at the PAR workshop between (her) football games.

Finally "getting" the rhythm to the final section of the Maple Leaf Rag, and playing it together with Talon.

Justin explaining how he was 60% in Self Two 40% of the time. Or something like that.

Seeing Doug's music for the first time in the master class and thinking he had more notes than the rest of us combined. A deluge of notes, so to speak.

Charlie's magic bottle cap.

Ethiopian lunch.

Tomales from the lady on the corner.

Our group buying every sandwich the shop across the street had in the house.

Playing in two different quartets at the same time, only to be topped by Sue, who didn't play two parts, or even one part, for that matter. Not sure what happened there.

Windmill cookies.

Italian food on 21st St with Lee, Mike, and Tom.

Missing the old friends who couldn't make it back this year. You know who you are.

Brent

[tom]

Additional memorable quotes for me:

Rhythm: start strict, then you have a basis to vary from.

Hang up on the high note, then fall from there.

Dig in harder for tone, volume, focus, and nerves.

The Classical period was a reaction to the Baroque going too far with the fugue (humans can't possibly follow 4 or 5 voices). Similarly, 20th century minimalism was a reaction to abstract music going too far.

Lorimer: Balance, legato, rhythm.

Aim for perfect in practice, 80% on stage.

Relax into the difficult passage. Expect it to be easy rather than to be hard.

Push through the filler stuff that is just taking you to the next big idea.

Shimmering, simple sound.

Listen to a lot of singers.

Young players who are not mature players give you all the notes and fast, but they don't deliver the line.

Act on stage. Pretend you are better than you are. Play it arrogant. Take on an aggressive attitude.

First counting, then heavy-handed accents, then internalize, finally just play it.

Think (hear in your head) the most difficult passage at the temp you want to play it. Then start in time.

These are quotes/lessons I need to remind myself of from time to time.
Tom

[Brent]

Nice, Tom. Thanks.

[Charlie]

I just finished reading "The Inner Game of Music" and it really reinforced a lot of things that Scott said to me as well as things he said in the PAR classes.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Speaking of performance anxiety, here's an NPR interview with a Julliard prof:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4269706

(Hope it doesn't give Scott any ideas...).

[tom]

Charlie,
Thanks for the link to the interesting story. It's good to see the subject is not completely ignored in conservatories any more. I don't think you have to worry about it giving Scott any ideas: he has been doing the equivalent in the PAR classes.
Tom

[scott]

Charlie, thanks for posting.....The audio clip is from a series of lectures by a former Green Beret (and teacher of sports phycology) teaching at The Julliard School, (whaaaat?). This particular part deals with teaching focus by dropping lumber and putting the students into a fearful mode and learning how to maintain concentration. While I understand this is just a slice of the approach I'd have to say it's pretty idiotic. His premise is that players need to feel anxiety, that the adrenaline created by that anxiety will produce extraordinary results.

It's not surprising that a person trained to channel adrenaline for the purposes of running, jumping, etc, faster, either in life or death situations or in an athletic endeavor, would need to know how to tap into that superhuman power. Unfortunately, when it comes to playing an instrument where a refined touch is required we're not looking for anything superhuman on stage but to simply play at our potential. Not that, on occasion we rise to another level but the norm is that players play below their potential due to the effects of performance anxiety.

In my PAR Workshops dealing with distractions is just one of the disciplines and we don't create unusual circumstances to test one's focus but those that often come up in performance; talking from the audience, cell phones going off, the shuffling of programs, lights going out.

The image of that poor violinist playing while some goofball is holding a plank over his head waiting for a difficult passage to arrive, then slamming it to the floor, while bizarre, is also very unlikely to take place in a performance.

And yes, it's great these concepts are finally being discussed in music schools but if this clip is indicative of the methods being used we're still not getting much.

Music is often the poor relation when it comes to concepts relevant to our instruments. Musician's injuries were seldom discussed openly and only after the 'sports medicine' craze crested, same here with sports phycology. Few people devote themselves to the specifics that affect musicians. Instead, they borrow what seems like parallel experiences and slap the same concepts on musicians. I think this particular clip is an example of just that.....

Scott