I’ve had a conversation with one of my students recently about self-comparison. He said he's watching all these amazing guitar performances on YouTube and gets inspired to learn those pieces. But then, no matter how long and hard he's practicing, he can’t get it perfect; he always makes some mistakes and it makes him really disappointed. So let’s talk about this.
You already know that what you usually see on social media is a lie. Right. People post what they’re most proud of, their success, and wins. The same happens among musicians as well. And I can only talk about classical guitar recordings here, but I know how highly edited the videos are you see. Even the casually looking ones, not only on YouTube but Instagram as well. I don’t want to sound like I pick on anyone, because it would sound like I’m judging when in reality I’m not, so I’ll just bring some of my own examples.
YouTube recordings and reality
This is my latest YouTube video. It sounds good, right? No significant mistakes, very good control over the tone and dynamics, and it looks like I just picked up the guitar to casually play something during a coffee break.
What very few of you know is that I pre-recorded the sound of this music video. I sat down a few days before the video recording just to record the sound. It took me probably 30 minutes and many tries to get it right. I think the first few notes are some of the most difficult notes in this piece because they have to aim up and create tension immediately, just to fall down from the 6th note. I just couldn’t get that idea and feel right. I probably tried the first 6 notes 30 times, and then I picked my favorite version, and edited it together with the next part. This piece was stitched together from 4-6 little patches, because I kept making tiny mistakes I didn’t like, so I just covered them up with a few notes from a different take.
And yes, only once I have the sound I’m happy with, I start recording a video to it. Because music is the most important part to me, it’s the foundation of all I do. Recording the sound and the visuals separately allows me to focus on one of the problems at once. I can’t make my best music if I’m thinking about if the camera is recording, if I’m in the frame or in focus, etc. So this, and many other I have on the channel, is a playback video.
On a concert you’ll hear all kinds of little flaws in the music which is perfectly fine, but the more control you have over the production, the more flawless you can make the final result. That’s an opportunity. Concert recordings like Omni Concerts and Siccas Guitar Concerts are also heavily edited, stitched together from the best, most successful attempts of a player.
I think that is okay. As technology improves, we have more chance to fine-tune these recordings to most match our musical concept and goal. The problem is that people who are not exposed to this type of work will make false assumptions, and they start comparing their 1st attempt raw playing of a piece to something that took hours to record, and maybe even longer to edit sometimes.
This video I recorded in December was recorded in complete darkness. I put lights all around the studio room and a big one in the window to make it look like I have this pretty morning light. But it was like 6 pm in December. But I needed this soft light vibe to support my musical concept.
Flaws and mistakes are normal
So to show you something real as well, here’s what it really looks like when I try to record something. These are just random parts from a longer video I had on my phone and I decided it would be fun to share this side of me as well:
Conclusion
The conclusion is that there’s nothing wrong with following great players, and gaining inspiration from them is probably something that they want you to feel. I want you to feel inspired after watching any of my music videos for sure. However, please keep in mind that we often edit our stuff, you can edit them too, or simply just enjoy the raw music you make, own the happy little accidents in your playing and just try to have fun. If you keep comparing yourself to the best recordings you find online, it will prevent you from being content with your music or art.
We all make mistakes and you must understand that the more respected a classical musician is, the higher the stakes get. For many of them, it’s a question of self-image or prestige not to show when they suck. But they all do. No one is born to play flawlessly. There’s something very human about showing our strengths and hiding our insecurities, but when you see a really good performance video, please take it with a pinch of salt: it may be heavily edited, and there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Hope this helps you to put things into perspective! If you want to hear what a real concert artist thinks about how to deal with judgment, self-comparison, and social media, check out my conversation with Alexandra Whittingham!
Hope you enjoyed this one, and if you did, please consider supporting my work in some way! Patreon is a great option, but you can also subscribe to this newsletter as a paid member, or buy something from my shop. I’ll leave some links here. Thanks for reading! Have a lovely week!
Hugs,
Beatrix
