“When opportunity knocks, it’s too late to prepare” – Coach Wooden

College football rules are not NFL rules, they are different. It was projected for a while that the NFL would be using replacement officials for a minimum of the preseason and the first few games of the regular season. Replacement officials missed failed to prepare for the opportunity.

When rumblings of replacement officials began these referees should have started preparing. Not knowing whether or not they would be called on to officiate is a moot point, they should have prepared anyway. I believe if these officials would have started preparing before the call/opportunity knocked we would see better officiating on the field.

Coach Wooden’s statement on opportunity is spot on. We must prepare for opportunity now. In the dark hours of the morning when no one else is awake, prepare. Late at night when you want to veg out in front of the TV, prepare. When you have a canceled meeting, prepare. Every free moment you have or can create is a moment that we can use to prepare for the opportunity to come. Opportunity will come, by the way.

Christopher Parkening recalled a time when Segovia called on him to play for his wife in one of his storied masterclasses. Parkening was not scheduled to play that day, had not warmed up, had not tuned his guitar, had not chosen a piece to perform. Segovia presented an opportunity for Parkening to play for his wife, opportunity and an honor. Christopher embraced the challenge and delivered. He was prepared. Opportunity knocked and he was ready to knock it out of the park.

We too must prepare to play at the highest levels. So that when we have our shot we can succeed. Prepare today for the opportunity that will come tomorrow. When the opportunity comes you will be ready to deliver.

How are you preparing for opportunity?

Double-top guitar construction was developed in the 1980s by Dammann. Utilizing Nomex between two guitar tops gives the luthier the opportunity to fashion an extremely thin top that is also stiff. A thin top transfers energy better and a stiff top provides better stability, decreasing the need for additional bracing. This gives the guitar a louder sound with more sustain, two things greatly needed on classical guitars.

The Hill also features lattice bracing. Lattice bracing comes from the Australian luthier Greg Smallman. This type of bracing is more flexible than the traditional fan and strut system, enhancing the guitars projection and sustain.

Two additional features of the Hill are sound ports, allowing more air to circulate through the guitar, and an elevated fingerboard.

With a new guitar comes a new case. I have acquired a BAM high-tech classical guitar case. These are durable cases made with an ABS skin, the same material used in canoe construction, resulting in a case that provides excellent protection for my new guitar.

Special thanks to Rich Sayage at savageclassical.com for working with me on acquiring this guitar.

Staying focused on your goals is extremely difficult in the age of always “on”. Being derailed from your to-dos and even loosing clarity as it relates to your goals happens far too easily.

Currently I am involved in a lengthy research project, one that is taking years. When dealing with pressures of work, other scholarship, practicing, family, and overall life my goal of completing this project with excellence often disappears. The same occurs for my students working toward performances. It is easy to loose your hunger in times of great distraction and stress.

I love this passage from Proverbs because it reminds me that hunger is what I need to persevere in the times of wanting to give up. The question remains, “how do you stay hungry?” In this context I think of hunger in terms of focus and discipline. How do you stay focused, hungry? How do you stay disciplined, hungry?

1. Write down your goal

I know this is not new information. However, this step is not taken in most of our lives. We often believe that we will get to our goals eventually and never commit to them in writing. The saying goes that “if you don’t have a target you are aiming at you’ll hit 100% of the time”. Write down your goal with as much clarity as you can, the more the better. By clarifying what you want you are more likely to obtain it. I find that reviewing this goal often, and even writing it consistently in my journal, helps keep me hungry.

2. Do something daily toward achieving your goal

I have made a commitment in my current research project to write one paragraph a day. This is my minimum, I can always do more. What this does is keep me focused on my to-dos, my projects. In practicing for a performance or learning a new piece, do something everyday to achieving greatness. Small daily improvements add up over time.

3. Talk about your goal

When training for my first marathon my training partner and I talked about the goal, completing the race, during every long run. Constantly reminding ourselves of the trails we were going to face, the pain that we were experiencing, and how crazy we were for doing kept our hunger alive. Let’s face it, it is difficult to stay “ramped” up for any given period of time. We just can’t stay in a constant state of being “jazzed” about something. We need to be reminded why we are doing something. What is the outcome of my discipline, or lack of? What will happen if I don’t follow through? Who is relying on me to realize my goals? What will I feel like once I have accomplished my goals? Talk about these things with someone you trust and will hold you accountable.

4. Have a system and work it

When I assign pieces of music for my students to work on during the school year most are overwhelmed. Part of my job is to help them see how they can accomplish the work. What I do is provide them with a system. The reason is when life creeps in your schedule gets messed up. Having a system in place of how you are going to accomplish your goal keeps you from messing up your schedule further. If you miss a scheduled appointment with your technique practice move on to the next thing. Your system should be structured in such a way that technique is focused on constantly. Missing one time of technique practice in a week will not kill you. Sabotaging progress on your other to-dos by not moving forward will. If you are constantly missing items in your system you need to evaluate whether or not this is really the goal you want for your life.

What are some ideas you have about staying hungry?

As a guitarist who learned formally and informally the process of playing by ear, picking up riffs and solos “off the record”, I’ve found that playing by ear is part of the process of becoming a guitarist.  However, in a classroom setting we generally do not have the amount of time required to allow this concept to evolve organically.  My thought has been it is possible to teach a student how to play by ear, learn something “off the record” by providing a scaled down, isolated musical events.  Here are a few tips:

1) Focus on teaching students to hear chord changes through root movement
Record a simple 4 bar pattern like the one below playing only the root of each chord.  Have your students pick out the bass note on the guitar and name the note (F# for example).

Listening Chord Progression

2) Have students decide what the quality of the chord is
The next step is to provide your students with the same progression, this time playing the full chord.  Have your students idetify the chord quality.  Most will feel comfortable referring to major chords as “happy” and minor chords as “sad”.  This is the worst designation I can think of when it comes to chord quality, but to be honest I cannot think of anything better. Sidebar: chords are neither “happy” or “sad”, it is simply our perception of the chord, and that is not a consistent thought among people.

Have the student label the chord next to the bass note.  The student now has the chords he needs to play in this example as they have the bass note, the chords name, and the quality of the chord, major or minor.

3) Identify the rhythm
The last step in learning to play this example by ear is to figure out the rhythm.  Due to this being an entry level exercise the rhythm played on the recording should be quarter note strums.  You can record more complex chord progression with more exciting rhythmic patterns once the student has a grasp on the concept.

Once a student feels comfortable with this idea, have them try to go through the same steps with a more difficult chord progression/strumming pattern.  The goal should be to assist the student in hearing chord inversions, timbral differences (notes played up the guitar neck sound different than the same note played down the guitar neck), and rhythmic complexities.

For information or if you have questions about the summer guitar camp leave a comment in the comments section and check out the guitar camp flyer.