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 enlarge | Author: Glenn Kurtz
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.92
You Save: $6.03 (43%)
New (40) Used (9) from $7.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 80194
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0307278751
Dewey Decimal Number: 787.87092
EAN: 9780307278753
ASIN: 0307278751
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 21-24 of 24 | | « PREV | | |
 The practice of life July 18, 2007
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I picked this book up largely because the author's experience is so much like my own. Like him, I trained as a guitar performer but ended up abandoning that pursuit for another path. His description of that process and the loss and pain that ensued certainly rings true to me.
What I found really compelling, though, was the way he comes to view the idea of "practice" and how that view lets him once again integrate music into his life. Practice is not a way to learn or to be better; rather, it's a way to be, or to think about being. The line between practice and performance is much less defined then we think it is. There is a lot to admire in this point of view and it's a lesson from which every reader can benefit.
You'll enjoy this book if you have ever pursued and given up a dream. Kurtz shows us that we can return to those dreams and find a way to bring them back into our lives.
 Marvelous story of the depths of making music, intertwined with life July 14, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is a marvelous book. It speaks from the heart about music, practicing (of course), expressing, performing. It speaks with heartfelt depth about his relationship with music and his guitar, and how it all interweaves with his life.
The book uses playing the classical guitar as a framework for the story, but it is much more about music played on any instrument, music itself, and the musician. As such it will appeal to anyone who makes music, or who is interested in music.
It has amazing descriptions of some of the key musical experiences in his life, and how his relationship with music changes over his life.
This is an oustanding book with great emotional appeal, and it is very well written.
Practice As Life July 14, 2007
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Superficially this book is an account of a young boy who takes his love for playing the guitar and nurtures it into the entry to a professional performing career, only to find that his unrealistic dreams of true artistry are beyond him; realizing this, he abandons his art.
On another level, it's about practice as life, independent of the specific activity.
If you're a folk or rock guitar player who grew up in the 60's or early 70's you'll probably resonate with Kurtz's recollections of the genre's famous names and hit songs.
If you are a classical musician, you'll identify with his descriptions of how the music you create has the potential to be so much more than the notes, and how who you are at the moment you perform is deeply expressed in the music. He also describes the promethean challenge of earning a living as an performing artist.
If you are a classical guitarist you'll recognize the challenges that guitarists face in a world overwhelmingly dominated by the piano and violin.
If you ever went to an arts conservatory you'll recognize the way of life and the personalities he describes in Boston and Vienna.
And if you wanted to learn how the classical guitar repertoire came to be, Kurtz does a fine job of describing the personalities and times of both the important composers (e.g., Bach, Tarraga, Sor) and performers (e.g., Segovia).
Lastly, his description of his return to the guitar after abandoning it for ten years due to the emotional pain he associated with the instrument, is wonderful for its offering us a description of how the possibility of growth and change is available in our relationships to others, ourselves and the things we love.
Recommended!
Thoughtful Story of a Dream Denied July 13, 2007
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
A book about failure isn't an obvious candidate for enjoyable reading. Factor in the potential for sour grapes, coupled with the title "Practicing" and its whiff of hairshirt self-laceration, and you have a book that fairly screams that it's a downer. But author Glenn Kurtz, a reformed musician, has conjured a minor miracle. His book is surprisingly readable, a quick and breezy look at one who tried hard and failed.
This breeziness, however, conceals a deeper feel that leavens the narrative. Though Kurtz wears his learning lightly, he casts a wide net, encompassing the likes of Pliny the Elder, Rainer Maria Rilke, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Harpo Marx. No reference point seems too high or low in his musing on meaning, and this enriches his exploration.
Kurtz's focus is determinedly self-centered--no other characters in the book are as fully developed as he. Rather than being a defect, this rings true. Even the most well-adjusted of aspiring artists are consumed with themselves. Artists must look within for the aesthetic capital to create and sustain a career. It's an unavoidable part of their craft. Fortunately, Kurtz is varied and interesting enough to sustain his book's narrow focus.
Is this a great book? Perhaps not, and it may be too parochial to appeal to a wider audience. But it's a treat for guitarists. Familiar names like Sor, Giuliani, and Tarrega dot the narrative. Here we have one of our own writing about the many of us who fell short of a dream. Kurtz wisely avoids the bromide of a happy ending. Success may make a brighter story, but failure is more universal. It's good to be reminded that our own rejected thoughts can return with a certain alienated majesty.
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