Fredric Chopin on the Beauty of the Classical Guitar

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here. Enjoy!

“Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, save perhaps two.”

Fredric Chopin

While the origin of this quote is dubious at best, it’s still a good one. Whether the great pianist/composer actually said it or not, it still rings true.

But we may sometimes forget how beautiful the guitar sounds.  We may get distracted by:

• all the thoughts about our practice
• what we “should” be doing, or able to do
• all the fine details in our pieces
• what we want vs. what we have
• and on and on and on.

There’s so much surrounding our guitar practices, that it’s easy to forget to actually listen.

The guitar IS beautiful. It’s personal. It’s tactile. It’s intimate. It’s sensual.

Now and then, when we re-discover guitar as if for the first time, we may be surprised or taken aback.

Like people who work in beautiful places who forget to look around, we may sometimes forget to hear.

When we do take a moment of appreciation, we are reminded why we do all this work. We reconnect with the payoff of striking a string, with the satisfaction of making a sound.

And accurate listening is one of the habits that set the best musicians apart from the amateurs. But we don’t have to play for decades to master this. We just have to remember to listen. And listen without prejudice or expectation. To listen honestly. Over and over again.