artists' craft

I love talking to artists of all kinds and find out about what they do for their craft.

Today after watching a Flyers game, my neighbor and I went to have a drink with his band buddy Ryan. Ryan is getting a classical guitar degree at the Temple University here in Philadelphia. He was talking about how much care he puts into his nails for his music.

Because one plays classical guitar with one's nails, he files his nails everyday to keep it in a certain shape. "I have to keep it in certain roundness for the sound to be good; and it takes some experiments too." said Ryan. Some of his teachers went through periods experimenting not only music styles but also nail shapes. "the more you do it, the better you know what shape works for you. " he said.

but there's a draw back with this naturalistic craft with music. "some people just have brittle nails, and it breaks all the time, that's when you are really f*ed. I remember one time I broke the nail on my middle finger, and that's when I was about to go for the audition for transferring from Uarts to Temple. I called up my teacher about it and ask him what to do."

there I was, talking to this dedicated musician, and never did i know that a man can talk about his broken nail without the obligation to justify.

"My teacher said to put a piece of toilet paper on it and glue it together with Super Glue, I guess that's why I see his thumb was covered in Super Glue all the time."

"I know this guy who never got his nail to work for him, so what he did was he cut and glue a piece of ping-pong ball on his nail, and file it down to the exact shape that he wants, and that's how he gets the sound."

I was and have always been intrigued by the uncanny things musicians and artists do privately in order to reach the perfection for their craft. I remember my neighbors, Lisa and Anna, a pair of twin girls who attended Curtis institute. Anna plays oboe, and Lisa is a viola player. while they spend much of their time practicing, Anna spend a considerable amount of time dedicating herself to another form of craft that could surprise some people. In their apartment, next to the music stand, there's a table that's usually covered with scraps of wood chips. I was so puzzled by the sight that I usually only see in the wood shops in my college. one day finally i asked.

Besides practice, Anna spend a considerable amount of time shaping the reed that goes into her oboe. "It sucks," said Anna. "Its like i have to not only learn how to play oboe, but also crafting the reed to make it work. It's a craft all by itself. sometimes I spend hours shaping the reed and it broke because it's too thin, so i have to start all over again. But when you leave it too thick, it just doesn't sound good, it just doesn't work."

these are the aspect of the musicians' life that most people would never know about, most people probably don't care, either. yet these are the things that interest me greatly. Who would have known the shape of their nails are so critical, who would have known the musician sits at a table with a tool box for hours shaping a piece of wood before she could really play? Ryan added, "I never zip my pants with my right hand, because it could break the nails so easily."

the only thing that I could think of off top of my head that's relevant to this and comes close to that would be what i did when i started learning web design. there are so many things to keep track of when designing a website, especially if you are trying to incorporate different programs and merge them seamlessly into a page. that's what I was trying to do for one of my very first real web design projects. everyday in that semester, I woke up in the morning and made myself a cup of tea with the mix of green tea and ginkgo tea, and for breakfast, I would eat only raw, uncooked food. The reason for this is to get the maximum amount of blood flood into the brain for the highest possible level of concentration, and use the least amount of energy to digestion while keeping the energy. When you use three or four programs simultaneously, and the two programs out of the four are completely new to you, some concentration will be needed; Besides, those things in web design and programming are so complicated, it's not like you could just keep making notes about it, because that will only slow down the process even more.

I got such a kick out of Ryan and Anna's story that i felt i could make it into a project. I am sure there's plenty of similar things out there to be discovered. What do the drummers do? What do the writers do? What about painters? Piano players? conductors? actors? dancers? I am in awe not just for the beautiful music and art these people produce, it's the amount of detailed dedication and mind that goes into it that really touches, intrigue and inspire me.