Hitting the Target

This is an interesting film in which Tim Ferriss attempts to learn the Japanese hands-free, horse-riding, turnip-headed-arrow-firing discipline called Yabusame (流鏑馬). The only catch is that he wants to do it in five days.

The reason I have posted it is that I have found there are a lot of similarities between disciplines like this and the way I think about piano playing. Particularly comparing it to the archers' art of kyūdō (弓道 to you), although I do not know much about it I always thought that in both cases someone is trying to hit a target. So much is happening when you are aiming to hit the target that the only thing that matters is what you do to hit it. It doesn't matter what is happening around you, all you have to do is what you have always practised to do. It is simple - but it is not simple if you make it complicated.

Every time the audience is rustling or you know you are going to make a mistake, you are in the same position. You have practised, now do. Each attempt is the same. Same target, same arrow, no matter what the circumstances. Everything is calm inside and you already know the result.

Don't you think it's the same for any target you're aiming to reach?

I think that's why they say it's not important about hitting the target itself. It's inside, the battle. If you have not conquered the negative part that used to be within you, you have already missed. Then when there is no negative left, when there is only you (or us), you are free.

Aim strong my warriors!!

A Few Piano Practice Tips

Having been asked for some tips, I thought it would be worth publicising them a bit. I have more!

1. There is only one most difficult part in a piece. In that one part, not everything is difficult. Not every note, not every chord. So you find the bit that is the most difficult, then understand why it is hard, and fix it. You have to understand what is hard before you can solve the problem. Then don't stop until you have fixed it = until you can play it ten times in a row with no mistakes!

2. Do you believe you can do it? ~Oh I will try my best but I am not really talented~~ OR say *I can do it*. Tough advice is: If you can't do it, don't do it! AND If you don't believe you can, then you probably won't (except by accident). BUT if you believe you can then it is possible and if you believe it perfectly then it becomes reality.

3. I think Heinrich Neuhaus wrote in his book that Richter was playing in a lesson and one difficult bit sounded really good, and the reason was he'd practised that bit for three hours! So that's what I meant, that people only can't play things because they stop learning it before it is good enough. It's not that they can't do it, but they just stop before they have finished!

(Which one is more scary, that you aren't good enough to succeed, or that you really could succeed but it's your choice??!)

OK!!!!!

Also practice tips are: if it is fast, learn it a bit faster. If you can do something more difficult, then you can do the thing at its normal difficulty level. And ten times in a row without mistakes - that's a good test!

Also if you repeat the notes - not dah, dah, but dadah, dadah, or dadadadah, dadadadah (I hope you can understand that!) then it gets better and you get more relaxed and the tone is better. Do it for every note in a chord and every voice in the counterpoint then it will all be better!

WELL. Those were some tips anyway!

Genius (Part II)

Genius is when someone does something amazing that you could never ever do in your life. Because their genius is theirs, and yours is yours. Each can only be like itself. When we put them all together we will have found all the missing pieces of the jigsaw again. But your piece can only ever be completed by you - that is why you are you. That is why we need you. That is why you have your own genius to guide you.

It's fruitless to try to reproduce someone else's achievement. It was theirs - any copy would be imperfect. It's pointless to covet someone else's ability - just an excuse for delaying our own development.

But it is fruitful to emulate genius. When you do not know where to look or where to begin, you could always begin by examining the path of someone who arrived to a useful place. Don't you think? I like to read stories from great people. I heard what Paderewski said. I heard what Michael Jackson said. I heard what Marcus Garvey said. All imperfect examples and none of them the same as me, but somehow knowing about them helps me to arrive. Don't you think it's good to know there is somewhere to arrive to?

Let's forget about TV talents and news stories. Real ability is not newsworthy. "I Fought Cancer Battle to Play Harmonica". "Dog With 3 Legs Plays Football for Blackburn Rovers". That's the news. "Man of 60 Realises Goal of Life Without Noticeable Fuss"? You're not going to hear about that one, folks.

Genius can be a painful condition that tears at the raiment of life because the two are always in contradiction. It can be painful and confusing for precocious genius that seems not to know the ways of the world but knows the paths of the stars. But it is never painful itself. It's nice. And if it has been hard getting there, or if it is difficult now you are there, you're not likely to talk about it. Who would know what you mean anyway.

So that kind of story's not getting in the news either.

But we are not concerned with the news. We are concerned with the truth. If all we have done is what we truly were able to, what we truly saw and heard, what we truly believed in and what we always truly were, then: we will have done a good thing. And that thing was not yet genius, but it might become like it...

We will see some further steps you need to take next time.

A frog grew up. A silkworm took to the skies. A rose grew where only darkness once was. Good night my budding geniuses! Sleep well, don't forget your fertiliser!