It is early in the day here in France, but it has begun nonetheless and I thought I would share a little bit before I begin a busy, although quiet, day.
In addition to running, the other activity that keeps me busy (outside of work) is guitar. If you were to examine my music collection which includes well over 20,000 tracks, you would find that the one thing they shared in common is the guitar. And I'm speaking of the guitar as an instrument used across many genres: classical, Latin, flamenco, electric blues, country blues, rock, country rock, "psychedelic", and so on. I wish I could learn to play them all, not for fame and fortune, but just for the enjoyment of it all. As it is, I study classical, Latin, flamenco, electric and country blues. Oddly enough, until today, I never incorporated a metronome into my practice. When practicing scales, I would simply count to myself (out loud to keep myself honest) and think that that was sufficient. In my running class yesterday, we used a metronome to establish the tempo for running, which magically forced me to shorten my stride (over striding was one of my running flaws). Last week, I read an article about Ana Vidovic, a young guitarist who has been amazing the classical guitar world since she was 16 years of age. Now, at the ripe age of 31 years old, she is renowned for her flawless technical skills, and highly developed expressiveness with the classical guitar. In the article she stated that she still practices scales using a metronome every day. A long time ago, in dog years, I read that Andre Segovia suggested that practicing two hours of scales everyday was essential for the guitarist at any level. I am not a great mathematician, but I could see some things beginning to add up. The great flamenco guitarists even say there are only three important aspects of playing great flamenco: tempo, tempo, tempo. They further note that one should spent 20 years learning tempo before they begin playing flamenco as a solo guitarist. Yesterday I found that at the crossroads of running and playing guitar there lies a metronome. Who could have imagined?
Breakfast today was simple and French: half of a baguette with a little bit of butter a lot of raspberry jam, and of course, 2 cups of coffee (not the little bitty French cups of coffee, but my Texas sized cups from Starbucks). It rained last night, the air is cool, and there is much to do before I travel tomorrow, both around the apartment and work. I will try to make an update or two while I'm on the road, and again, I thank you for coming along…
A bientot,
Mark
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