XIII
If music is quality organised in sound, the musician has three approaches towards it: through sound, through organisation, or through quality. The apprentice will approach the sound; the craftsman will approach the organisation of sound. The master musician approaches music through its quality: that is, they work from silence, organise the silence, and place sound in-between the silences.
The master musician will also be able to organise sound, and produce it.
In Guitar Craft we assume the virtue of the master musician—with whom we may equal in aspiration, even in commitment—and approach music from silence. We approach music from silence by being silent. We only discover the quality in music if we discover the quality in ourself. Luckily, music knows itself better than we do and sometimes whispers in our ear.
While cultivating silence, we approach sound. Are we in tune? Are we in time? Are we in tone? When our note is true, we are surprised to find that it sounds very much like silence, only a little louder.
Guitar Craft Monograph Two
Friday, 16th. September 1988;
Red Lion House, Cranborne, Dorset.
(revised February 2011)
