Playing classical guitar:
A comprehensive method for classical guitar
Introduction
Though blueprinting is now an antiquated printing process, the term has
come to be used as a popular expression for describing a working plan or
construction documents. In music the blueprint is the musical score,
provided by the composer, and blueprinting is the process of learning to
play that composition by breaking it into its various parts and putting
them back together. If this process is done haphazardly or
inattentively, you will never have a perfectly coordinated piece of
music; foundational flaws will make it lurch and stutter. When done with
attention paid to every detail, the music will glide frictionless from
your fingers; eloquently expressing the transcendental.
A building, when seen from the outside, is a glorious piece of
architecture. But the living structure is filled with mechanical systems
that provide heating, ventilation, air conditioning, natural and
artificial light, plumbing, electricity, wiring for phones and
computers, back-up safety systems, and more. In a well designed building
you never see the many layers that make it work. As a user you get to
enjoy the beauty of the building, living and working in its functioning
spaces; the offices, classrooms, studios, concert halls, lounges and
bathrooms, without having to see how the water, power, heating, lighting
and ventilation get there. Like any complex structure, a piece of music
is made of many operating systems working together. The mechanical
systems that make the piece of music work are those that you have built
into your body and mind.
Though there are many similarities between the blueprints for a
building and the musical score for a piece of music, there is one major
difference; the blueprints break the systems down and the musical score
presents all the working systems together. Additionally, the many
mechanical systems needed to bring a composition to life are often
implied in the score or are part of the performance practices associated
with that particular musical tradition. The job of the performing
musician is not just providing the moving parts; it is fundamentally to
bring the music to life.