Colum McCann on Making the Journey a Joy (“You must burn!”)

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

“The perfection is not so much in the performance as in the journey towards it. This is the joy. You must burn!”
Colum McCann, Dancer

The actor Sidney Poitier shared, upon receiving a lifetime achievement award, “…a simple observation: The rewards were in the journey and there were many.”

In guitar practice, the reward for work well done is more work. Meeting daily challenges is both the job and the joy.

We do have punctuated moments of special triumph. We get pieces to performance level. We have breakthroughs that leave previous limitations behind. We play for others and feel proud.

But these moments are fleeting. And they are the spinoff from countless moments of ordinary practice.

To an outsider, it could sound almost silly- That we could find such engagement in trying to connect two notes smoothly.

That we could play slowly and look for unneeded tension.

That we couldwrestle with a rhythm and then feel exhilarated when we master it.

These daily wins are not grand. They are small and personal. They are the simple pleasure of rising to meet a chosen challenge.

But they add immeasurably to life. These tiny quests bring a richness and meaning that can be difficult to find elsewhere. They allow adventure and trial from the comfort of home, on our own schedule.

The differences between elation and boredom are defined by the challenges we set to.

When we add small variations to our work, we create new obstacles. When we raise the standard another inch (cleanness, consistency, quality, etc.) we have new opportunities for victory.

The path forward on guitar usually doesn’t lay in new exercises or pieces. It lies in looking closer and demanding more of our existing work.

As we lean in, the seemingly mundane transforms into new trails through promising terrain.

Hi, I’m Allen Mathews.

I started as a folk guitarist, then fell in love with classical guitar in my 20’s. Despite a lot of practice and schooling, I still couldn’t get my music to flow well. I struggled with excess tension. My music sounded forced. And my hands and body were often sore. I got frustrated, and couldn’t see the way forward. Then, over the next decade, I studied with two other stellar teachers – one focused on the technical movements, and one on the musical (he was a concert pianist). In time, I came to discover a new set of formulas and movements. These brought new life and vitality to my practice. Now I help guitarists find more comfort and flow in their music, so they play more beautifully.
Click here for a sample formula.

These warm-up and stretching exercises are helping me a lot! Because I’m a software developer I have to stay 8 hours typing on a computer keyboard, so I use my hands a lot during the day. At night, when I have some time to practice the guitar my hands and arms are usually in pain because they have been working a lot during the day, but I’ve found that doing the warm-up/stretching exercises in The Woodshed releases me from this pain and I’m then able to practice after doing them.

You are building a very interesting and working guitar course, because for what I’ve seen so far it really works!

~ Ulysses Alexandre Alves

-Ulysses Alexandre Alves

I think the program levels are a great way to teach the guitar. I have had several teachers over the past few years and none came close to the structured organization that you have put together.

~ Peter Marior

-Peter Marior