Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music
Glenn Kurtz (Author)
Publisher: Knopf (June 19, 2007)
ISBN-10: 030726615X
ISBN-13: 978-0307266156
This is a great book filled with classical guitar history and the personal account of a musician deeply affected by the power of music. Kurtz spins a narrative that weaves together the experiences of practising, performing, and studying under the the great pedagogy Aaron Shearer at the New England Conservatory. This is possibly the best, if not the only, full account of a classical guitarist’s experience studying and learning the classical guitar.
For any guitarist, either starting out or a long-time professional, this book reminds us of why we love our instrument and to not let the pressures of the music profession interfere with that love. Highly recommended.
“If there is any idea less appealing to a musician than sitting alone in a room with an instrument and a metronome, watching one’s maladroit fingers stumble through the same passage of Bach, Mozart or Billy Joel for an hour, it may be the thought of reading another musician describe the experience. So it is to the immense credit of Kurtz . . . that he has written such a thoughtful and fluid meditation on the subject: his book is at heart a memoir of his formative experiences learning the classical guitar and of how he eventually gave up his musical ambitions, interwoven with bits of history about pioneering guitarists like Fernando Sor and Andrés Segovia and yes, contemplative passages about the value of practicing. . . . By the time Kurtz settles into the story of his artistic decline, at 22 in Vienna (where, he says, two Americans in “animated conversation” is the “definition of a riot”), he is in complete control of his narrative. When he remorsefully writes of how easily he fell out of practice, he might just compel you to call your old grade school piano teacher to see if she’s taking on any new students.”
–Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times Book Review (October 28, 2007)
Buy the book:
Amazon Canada ($11.51)
US/International ($11.16)
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