Continuing the conversation from the Vanguard thread....

thank you very much for that quote from Renbourn. I shows that even a
finger-style master can be run around by fears of collapse! And I have
experienced total blackout several times, although not recently, praise God.
but you will notice Renbourn specifically limits the comment to "set pieces",
the equivalent of classical compositions.

For classical performance, there are many strategies employed to stave off
breaking down or blacking out. The biggest danger is in the mind's small
wanderings. Lose focus for one second or two, and you have to leap back into
the unfolding pattern. Wander down a thought train for a few seconds, and you
may be ready for complete flameout upon return.

Here are the main strategies of classical performers:
(1) Develop a level of competence, through practice, that is so high that
muscle memory is available at every instant in time.
(2) Memorize the piece in 4-bar phrases, beginning to end.
(3) Memorize the piece from the END backwards to the beginning (this creates a
kind of forward-looking pressure to the performance that bears one onward)
(4) Memorize the structure of the piece
(5) Sing the piece.

Those are just the ones I know of. (1) and (5) are the most helpful to me.
When you sing the piece, the mind and heart are always reaching forward into
larger chunks of musical phrasing, the deeper structure of the piece. Because
of this focus on the horizon and breathing, one tends to stay focused better and
be carried onward.

How do these apply to public performance of improvisation? Actually, they are
extremely helpful. Thinking in terms of 4-bar phrases (or other multiples,
naturally) creates an on-going deeper contemplation of the musical idea as
overall arc or structure. Singing is essential (I include mental singing, which
I do, as well as actual subvocalization). But nowadays, I always try to remind
myself that I am PLAY-ing the guitar: this is meant to be
re-creation/recreation, play, not work, not repetition or manufacture, but
play....

My own idol in the realm of improvisation is Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. After some
years of working in a raga-like style of improvisation (and more study of the
background of Hindustani classical music) myself, I know there are miles and
miles of muscle and voice memory competence built into the hours and hours of
practice. However, to my mind and ear, his works (especially those recorded
from the late 1950's to mid-1980's (equates to his mid-30's to his early 60's)
combine a phenomenal and staggering competence technically, with the freshness
and joy and freedom of a child playing with a crayon. And there is always a
traveling sense of the organic unity of what he is doing.

My other great hero is Bach, who was considered the greatest improviser of his
age. Although we cannot know what he did when he was truly improvising, by
listening deeply to his compositions and knowing that they flowed from a
wellspring of improvisation, I think we can come close to feeling what he did do
when he sat down to go exploring. Another musician who really conveys this
quality is Chopin. I'm not ready to take the discussion into jazz, but I would
also want to include here Coltrane, Branford Marsalis, Miles Davis, and several
others.....

Basho accomplished some masterful recordings and performances that have these
same qualities. As I am closer to the musical realms he is exploring, I am very
aware of the slightest mis-steps or lapses, however. I am not saying there are
many of these. Today, I can listen to his strongest works and still be stunned.
I have to remind myself that the Robbie Basho I met in 1968 and listened to
deeply was already someone who had paid A LOT of dues, in trying to bring those
studio deep-in-the-shed sessions out into the open of public performance.

Finally, speaking from the point of view of one trying to climb the mountain, I
would just caution those who spend a lot of time trying to learn the pieces note
by note. Look rather for ways to capture the freshness of vision that Robbie
had as he first sees, and then explores, these new places...

good notes and clear vision to y'all
rich