{"id":196910,"date":"2021-05-18T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=196910"},"modified":"2021-05-21T02:33:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T09:33:32","slug":"tq-boyd-varty-tracking-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/tq-boyd-varty-tracking-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyd Varty on Living With the Unknown and Uncertain in Guitar Practice"},"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

\u201cI don\u2019t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.\u201d <\/em><\/p>

Boyd Varty (as Renias Mhlongo)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Lion Tracker\u2019s Guide to Life, by Boyd Varty, is a short book on tracking lions in the South African bush. In it, Renias Mhlongo says, \u201cI don\u2019t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning classical guitar, each piece of music is a new discovery. When we first set upon it, we don\u2019t know what we\u2019ll encounter. Even after a read-through, we\u2019ve only brushed the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we absorb the notes and plan our choreography, we face nume<\/a>r<\/a>ous challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We make decisions we\u2019ll later change. We form a mental picture of the music, with its various emotions and statements. We plot the rises and falls, the smooth and rough patches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piece we end up with is often completely different than the one we begin. We form deep and intimate relationships with each piece. We have hours of experience together. We overcome hardship and crest new outlooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as we continue to play a piece of music for years or decades, this relationship deepens<\/a>. It continues to unfold. Even after time, it can still surprise us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when we first begin, we know very little. We may know the notes. We have the clues the composer left us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each moment of music<\/a> is a puzzle to decipher. Each phrase both stands alone and exists within a larger framework. And like a lifting fog, we blink these into being, bit by bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s practice<\/a>, we don\u2019t need to know what the piece will be in the future. We need only know how to work on it in the time we have in front of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herbert Hoover once said, \u201cWisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as in knowing what to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For each challenge, we can try various solutions. For each stage of the learning process, we have formulas<\/a> and methods we can employ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t need to understand everything. Instead, we can live with the uncertainty and the unknown. We can work on what we do know. We can follow the track in front of us, trusting that we are moving forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this creates the most rewarding practice. We put aside dreams of an ultimate masterpiece and instead dig our hands into the soil before us<\/a>. Nurturing, coaxing, excavating, polishing.<\/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! \u201cI don\u2019t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.\u201d  Boyd Varty (as Renias Mhlongo) The Lion Tracker\u2019s Guide to Life, by Boyd Varty, is a short book on tracking lions in the South African bush. In … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":196911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\nBoyd Varty on Living With the Unknown and Uncertain in Guitar Practice<\/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=\"Boyd Varty on Living With the Unknown and Uncertain in Guitar Practice\" \/>\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! \u201cI don\u2019t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.\u201d  Boyd Varty (as Renias Mhlongo) The Lion Tracker\u2019s Guide to Life, by Boyd Varty, is a short book on tracking lions in the South African bush. 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