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Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music
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Music Books > Guitar Songbooks > Item 8
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Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music
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by Glenn Kurtz
Sales Rank: 11910
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List Price: $23.00
$15.64
At Amazon
on 12-29-2007.
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Features
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Knopf June 19, 2007
Language: English
ISBN-10: 030726615X
ISBN-13: 978-0307266156
Product Dimensions:
8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Waylaid from an early career as a classical guitarist, a teacher of the arts recounts his reimmersion in his music by undertaking an intensive regime of practicing. A serious artist is constantly plagued by the fear that he either has the gift or he doesn't, notes Kurtz, and that no amount of busy work can redeem him. Growing up in Great Neck, N.Y., in the 1970s, Kurtz tapped into the Guitar Workshop and mastered folk songs by the time he was 10; inspired by seeing Andrés Segovia perform, Kurtz envisioned a life devoted to music. He studied at Boston's New England Conservatory, where the key to success was constant practicing, and where he had to overcome a sense of the guitar's inferiority to other instruments. Trekking through Europe with other players, he was confronted with the economic exigencies of a musical career and eventually ceased practicing, to his great sorrow. In his mid-30s he took up the guitar again and gleans the painful lesson that although musical artistry may seem divine, mastery of the instrument is humbling and mundane. Kurtz's work contains a rich history of the classical guitar, including the work of Bach, Fernando Sor and Scott Joplin.
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From Booklist
Guitar was the young Kurtz's passion. From lessons as a child, through summers at a guitar camp where he learned aspects of performance, on to the New England Conservatory of Music in preparation for a solo career, and actually pursuing that career in Vienna, he describes the journey that led to the recognition that he wasn't cut out to be a performer. Practice is putting love into the music, he sees, and performance is sending that love to the listener. Including discussion of the history of the guitar and of the composers of music for it, he traces an odyssey that turns full circle 10 years later when he resumes playing for his own enjoyment. He bares his soul, relating his feelings during practice, audition, and performance, as well as his experiences with teachers, mentors, and other artists. Although Kurtz writes in stream-of-consciousness style, virtually everyone who is dedicated to getting the most out of music by playing it will appreciate his insights into the art of practice for the love of music. Hirsch, Alan
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
A book about failure isn't an obvious candidate for enjoyable reading. Factor in the potential for sour grapes, coupled with the title "Practicing" and its whiff of hairshirt self-laceration, and you have a book that fairly screams that it's a downer. But author Glenn Kurtz, a reformed musician, has conjured a minor miracle. His book is surprisingly readable, a quick and breezy look at one who tried hard and failed. This breeziness, however, conceals a deeper feel that leavens the narrative. Though Kurtz wears his learning lightly, he casts a wide net, encompassing the likes of Pliny the Elder, Rainer Maria Rilke, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Harpo Marx. No reference point seems too high or low in his musing on meaning, and this enriches his exploration. Kurtz's focus is determinedly self-centered--no other characters in the book are as fully developed as he. Rather than being a defect, this rings true. Even the most well-adjusted of aspiring artists are consumed with themselves. Artists must look within for the aesthetic capital to create and sustain a career. It's an unavoidable part of their craft. Fortunately, Kurtz is varied and interesting enough to sustain his book's narrow focus. Is this a great book? Perhaps not, and it may be too parochial to appeal to a wider audience. But it's a treat for guitarists. Familiar names like Sor, Giuliani, and Tárrega dot the narrative. Here we have one of our own writing about the many of us who fell short of a dream. Kurtz wisely avoids the bromide of a happy ending. Success may make a brighter story, but failure is more universal. It's good to be reminded that our own rejected thoughts can return with a certain alienated majesty.
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Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music
Updated on 12-29-2007.
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