{"id":161400,"date":"2020-11-17T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=161400"},"modified":"2021-05-20T20:04:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T03:04:23","slug":"tq-christopher-parkening-play-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/tq-christopher-parkening-play-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Parkening on Playing Music Beautifully (and missing notes)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here<\/a>. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs my father used to tell me growing up, \u2018Play it beautiful, play it beautiful.\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if you don\u2019t hit all the notes. If you don\u2019t move a person\u2019s heart, it\u2019s not music.\u2019 \u201d<\/em><\/p>Christopher Parkening<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlay it beautiful.\u201d What does this mean? Are we expected to conjure a flood of emotion as we cramp under barre chords<\/a> and wide stretches? And does our personal emotion guarantee a beautiful performance anyway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No and no. Emotion is more a product of beautiful playing. It can be a creative influence on our musical decisions<\/a>. But the decisions make the music beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful music, music that moves the heart, is not magic. It\u2019s not witchcraft or supernatural phenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful music uses the tools we have available: volume, rhythm<\/a>, tone quality<\/a>. And each of these are under our control, regardless of our personal feelings in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The musical decisions we make include these elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decide when to get louder, and how loud to get. We decide when and how much to slow down<\/a> or speed up. We connect our notes well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we progress as musicians, we get better at making these decisions. It\u2019s easy, like beginning actors, to misjudge what is needed in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And beyond making the musical decisions, we must also demonstrate them. We must play them so that a listener will hear them and understand. It\u2019s a game of show-and-tell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some music is difficult. Some music we don\u2019t understand. Here, we may become preoccupied with playing the notes. We may move the line of success from \u201cbeautiful\u201d to \u201cclean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we should strive to play cleanly. To play without major mishap is a noble feat in itself<\/a>. But this alone will not make the music beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only way we can share beautiful music with others is to make decisions, practice them, and demonstrate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, this puts \u201cclean\u201d at risk. The musical decisions may add to the complexity and challenge. Or they may simplify them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we need courage and priorities. We must be willing to sacrifice our safety and security for something more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here. Enjoy! \u201cAs my father used to tell me growing up, \u2018Play it beautiful, play it beautiful.\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if you don\u2019t hit all the notes. If you don\u2019t move a person\u2019s heart, it\u2019s not music.\u2019 \u201d Christopher Parkening \u201cPlay … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2973,"featured_media":161401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\nChristopher Parkening on Playing Music Beautifully (and missing notes)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christopher Parkening on Playing Music Beautifully (and missing notes)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here. Enjoy! \u201cAs my father used to tell me growing up, \u2018Play it beautiful, play it beautiful.\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if you don\u2019t hit all the notes. If you don\u2019t move a person\u2019s heart, it\u2019s not music.\u2019 \u201d Christopher Parkening \u201cPlay ... 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Enjoy! \u201cAs my father used to tell me growing up, \u2018Play it beautiful, play it beautiful.\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if you don\u2019t hit all the notes. If you don\u2019t move a person\u2019s heart, it\u2019s not music.\u2019 \u201d Christopher Parkening \u201cPlay ... 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