Listening to the individual notes

The Coronavirus has put me in a position of having the time and space to be able to play the lute every day. There will always be excuses, but this way, with fewer outdoor options available, the opportunity is more than ever there.

Tonight I felt halfway between wanting to play and halfway feeling it in my fingers but mostly feeling like doing something else. This made me think that a lacklustre approach to the musical pieces I might play would reflect in the quality of the sound and lead to a less than optimal end to the evening. I therefore came to a compromise and settled for doing scales which I thought would satisfy the lust in my fingers but wouldn't frustrate my ears.

As I was in no rush and only had the scales to practice I was able to really enjoy the sound the lute made. I could let each note sound out, and not snatch one note short in favour of playing the next. Robbing Peter to pay Paul in fact. It never ends well. So I let the notes sound and enjoy their own path.

In doing so it revealed small but significant anomalies which I could trace better, now I was giving time to scales playing. Whilst playing one set I then played each string individually (therefore twice on each course) to really concentrate each sound before playing the collective 'course'. I heard issues with fingers rubbing on the strings underneath or strings not quite depressed at the right place on the fret.  Things that sometimes pass by when the imperative is playing the piece.

Result: enjoyment tinged with satisfaction.

Symbol: White peacock.