My Date with Sensei

This is a great student. His interpretation of his experience with Segovia is brilliant. He came back to the mind of the beginner, or as Philip Sudo who wrote Zen Guitar says, he 'put on the white belt.' He can handle the criticism of a sensei.

In America, we learn music backwards from European and Asian players. We decide we want to play, then we get a guitar and start going for it. In Europe and Asia, a player spends years in conservatory prep schools, then, if you show promise, you are invited to go to conservatory.

If the student had come from a place of ego, how could he learn? On the other hand, what would a master like Segovia stand to gain personally by simply berating another player? Segovia knew this student had the technique to play the piece, he challenged the student resolve to make music with the piece. As Americans, too often we get so enamoured with the mechanics of things and forget about the spirit of them. This how we, as a society, can pull music and the arts out of the school system and think somehow our children will be able to compete at the same high level as children from other countries who's society remembers balance is the key to life.

I have never found the need to berate a student, but in this clip that is not what is happening. Segovia is considered one of the greatest guitarists who ever played the instrument. He is not some beginning guitar instructor at a mom and pop music store in Iowa.

Let me relate a story. I had the experience of being the president of the guitar club at my university, and one of the things I did was bring Joe Pass to do a master class. We publicized it so that guitarists all over the city could come and participate. Let me tell you, those guitarists who played for Joe Pass took a real beating. I was incensed. These poor guys paid extra money to be put down? I could not believe it. I thought Joe Pass was the greatest living jazz guitarist at the time. He stopped our class early and said there was no reason to continue. He took our money and left without even acknowledging the guitar club that had brought him in. How could he have treated us so poorly? We could've brought in Kenny Burrell for half the bread, but yours truly talked the other guitarists in the club into springing the extra dough for Pass. I was thunderstruck.

Needless to say, I despised Joe Pass for years after this experience. I never stopped believing he was great, mind you, but my opinion of him as a person went straight into the toilet. Years later, people who knew Joe would tell me of a kind, extremely sensitive man who was one of the most generous of musicians. How could we be speaking of the same person?

Here's how: in truth when I look back at that experience, we were beyond novices at guitar, jazz or otherwise. We had no experience, no sensitivity, no business arranging a master class with a true master like Joe Pass. When Joe saw our reaction to his criticism, he knew none of us would "get" where he was coming from. He was wise enough not to protract the bad experience. He was not equipped to deal with such babies in jazz guitar. I've learned that the master class is for the serious student and not necessarily the hobbyist. Let me add, I am the only one from that guitar club who has become a professional musician.

We did eventually invite the great Kenny Burrell to do a master class. He was great for us. Truly inspiring. Kenny also has more experience dealing with the typical American music student as he heads the music department for UCLA right now. So what was the difference? Joe Pass is a player par excellence. He is not necessarily a music educator like Kenny Burrell. Kenny could shift the gears to where we were and give us concepts we were ready to handle. A guy like Joe Pass could only impart his knowledge to a highly advanced student which none of us were at the time. We had no humility and could not grasp what sensei was really telling us. We were out of our depth listening to Joe Pass. He was so advanced, what could he tell a novice except "keep practicing."

John McLaughlin said:

"If I can get out of the way, if I can be pure enough, if I can be selfless enough and if I can be generous and loving and caring enough to abandon what I have and my own preconceived silly notions of what I think I am and become truly what in fact I am, which is just another child of God, then the music can really use me and therein lies my fulfillment. That's when music starts to happen."

I highly recommend reading Philip Sudo's book Zen Guitar. I became aware of it from Robben Ford. Any student I have in the future will have to get this book and read it. The fellow in this YouTube clip is the embodiment of the student willing to 'put on the white belt' and listen with a beginner's mind.

... the beginning ...

opening lyric of "The Beginning" by Seal

"The beginning saw existence of a chosen dream
But then came pain
With energy striking on those she knew would uncover her lies
She knew she must destroy everything that we had prayed for
So she sent shameful claim in her lies
She wants us to be what's going on in her mind
Music takes you round and round and round and round and round
Hold on to the love
Hold on to the love"