SEGOVIA'S HANDS

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SEGOVIA'S HANDS

Andrés Segovia is without peer as a classical guitarist. He created the concept of the guitar as a concert instrument; and then, through masterful execution of pieces by Bach, Tárraga, Albeniz and others, proved his concept valid. His technique evolved to meet the needs of the complex pieces he played. Using fingernails to pluck the strings, for example, rather than merely brushing with the fleshy sides or tips of the fingers, he added another dimension to the tonal range of the guitar. This was largely an innovation of Segovia's.

The most striking aspect of the man's playing seems to me to be the combination of suppleness and precision of his hands. They seem to be totally relaxed yet have the dynamic tension to play arpeggios or complex barre chords flawlessly. Segovia's hands and fingers seem to move of their own volition, yet all the movement is best characterized by the impression of stillness.

Linked here is a video of Segovia, late in his life, still vibrant, playing Bach's Sarabande and Gavotte en Randeau. The video runs just over five minutes, but even a glimpse conveys an adequate sensibility of his mastery. And though stillness is commonly defined as an absence of motion, here its meaning is closer to an absence of unnecessary motion. Watching the performance, the impression is that all unnecessary motion---physical, mental, and spiritual---has been eliminated.

A balance between suppleness and tension in all areas of a person's life seems to be the essential necessity of a life well lived. Segovia, by any standard, has achieved such a balance in his life. And if one considers most of the enduring philosophies and arts of the East, one will find that the lessons taught strive for just such a blending. One need only consider the pranas of yoga or the intricate movements of tai chi to see the validity of this position. When the balance is perfected, only the moment exists, conceptions blur and dissolve, and plurality becomes mere illusion.

MICK RYAN'S LAMENT

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'Mick Ryan's Lament' is the name of a song written by Robert Emmet Dunlap, a Boston born, but well traveled singer songwriter. The core of the song is based on a west Ireland drinking tune that emerged in the late 18th century called 'Garryowen.' Many ironies surround both songs. Young rich men of Limerick, Ireland, adopted the tune as they drank and sang their way from pub to pub and party to party. Poor Irish emigrants in New York City also clung to the ballad and adopted it as their regimental marching song after forming a local militia. Beethoven wrote two arrangements of the song and General George Armstrong Custer selected Garryowen as the 7th Cavalry's marching tune. The garryowen haunted the wars in Korea, Viet Nam, and Iraq to name just a few. 'Mick Ryan's Lament,' of course, is a sad commentary on the folly of our specie's incessant drive to acquire and conquer.

The American government's policy on native Americans was as clear and decisive as the English government's policy on Ireland. All the various tribes from the Cherokee to the Cheyenne were subject to genocidal practices from simple displacement and meaningless treaties, to nefarious introduction of diseased bedding and alcohol. The English role in the An Gorta Mór, The Great Famine, was equally odious. While the potato crop did suffer a devastating blight, the Catholic peasants ruled by their English masters starved while exports of foodstuffs such as butter, livestock, peas, beans, rabbits, fish, and honey actually increased.¹

The word garryowen comes from an Irish phrase Eóin garrai. Eóin is the proper name 'John' and garrai is the Irish for 'garden' which gives a translation of 'John's garden.' The old river town of Limerick, located on the Shannon River near the river's extensive estuary, has a neighborhood named Garryowen. The place name was derived from a 12th century church, St John's, and the adjacent fields and pastures.

Garryowen

click on link for song

Of the many covers of Dunlap's song, bluegrass legend Tim O'Brien has hit the right tempo and phrasing to convey the song's message; and his duet with Darrell Scott is included below. The Garryowen itself was an uptempo number with a defined insouciance which created its appeal to soldiers, rugby clubs, and rowdies generally. Dunlap slowed the tempo and created his own lyric, and the song turned inside out with the roisterous hubris becoming a melancholy despair.

Tim O'Brien and Darell Scott

Mick Ryan's Lament

1http://www.history.com/topics/irish-potato-famine

A BRIEF WORD WITH TAO-MING

If this is your first visit to CwHD, a brief introduction is available. Just click on the CwHD Intro link in the sidebar. To return, simply click the Home link. Older editions are archived and listed by date. Conversations with a Hypoxic Dog began on May 1 of this year; but was subsequently renamed Whimsy.  Words and Language and other Nonsense remains the focus; but a bit of History was added several weeks ago.

A monk said to his master, "We are always putting on and taking off our clothes, and eating our food. Is there any way of avoiding this?"

Tao-ming said, "By putting on and taking off our clothes, and by eating our food."

The monk said, "I don't understand."

The master said, "Not understanding is wearing clothes and eating food."

Tao-ming (780 - 877) lived in one temple or another all located in southern China near Macao. He was a disciple of renowned master Huang Po. As was common of the time, he was known by several names: Bokushu, Reverend Chen, Tao-tsung, Muchou.