Balance
Last Sunday was a big day. The family and I spent the afternoon at Cliff and Sally’s house because it was our first day of shooting footage for the film. No turning back now, lol! That ship sailed a long time ago. Sunday was a major milestone in the guitar building process and filming opportunity, as we selected all the raw materials for the guitar. So friggin' exciting, but I must admit, I was a bit intimidated because I really know nothing about how a guitar is built. What type of wood looks and sounds the best? I had no idea there were different types of wood for the front, sides and back. They bind together with what? What’s a rosette? Low and behold, I relied heavily on Cliff to give me some direction. I knew coming in, we needed to have the right balance of creating a piece of art, without sacrificing sound.
After over an hour of tapping wood, shining it with acetate to see how the colour would finish, we ended up with this:
This is my guitar!!! Now I just need to find music to play on it…
There are a lot of classical guitars out there. I spent the week watching YouTube videos and listening to recordings of many different artists by various composers. I felt like this would have come in handy years ago when I was learning the instrument, but YouTube only came out in 2005, hehe. The simple act of intently watching and listening to videos of world-class guitarists is proving to be a huge reality check. Do I really believe that I can come close to these people? Is this even realistic? I keep telling myself, I need to pick my guitar up and really focus on playing and developing the skills. Everything else is secondary.
I also came to the realization that this will not be a traditional classical guitar concert. Who am I kidding? 1) It’s not me and 2) It’s not for my audience. When choosing pieces, I am considering the appropriate balance of classical guitar demonstration and authentic modern entertainment. What I think my audience will enjoy, will be my litmus test. How can I inspire and entertain the 30-40 somethings like me, who have a creative interest they've downgraded to a hobby, that may be slowly diminishing over time? Those who need a bit of inspiration to ignite their own personal mastery? How can I really showcase this custom-made instrument and work of art?
Sneak-peeks of my other rep considerations...
-- Noel
