I went to my last music lesson today where I broke the ornamentation barrier
There is an advanced ornamentation to the Turkish style of oudism
That I couldn’t quite figure with what I call my ear
So I asked my teacher and he broke the piece down for me
Ornamentation: each note of which he explained and played
He played it and I mimicked him
In a moment
Something that eluded me for years
Opened up in the simplest way
How could I have missed that
Today I saw it and heard it and felt it in my hands
At the same time
It was a moment
I almost turned into syrup
I also realized that it is quite similar to the ornamentation
Of the baroque guitar
With which I am quite familiar
I should have asked:
How much of this are you interested in
Obsession
What I am doing is way beyond my expertise
Though as with other things I have taken on
In the realm of obsessions
My teachers think otherwise
I suppose that’s a rare teacher
Who can hear or see in the student
What the student cannot
That’s me and that is my teacher
I told him again on our parting
What a fine teacher he is
He told me what a fine student I am
I read from a great poet
That one needs something to write about
A life
I may have forgotten that
Get out and do things
He said
Otherwise you’ll bore everyone
With your little stories
jsg, Jerusalem