The difference between accuracy and music…
Words 51 · RF@80 Series.
Photo: still from Robert At Home (April 2023) where he addresses Larks' Tongues In Aspic on the 50th anniversary of its release.
My morning practising began with the LIV parts to be played. Then, I remembered my own good advice to Crafties: don’t practice pieces you’ll be playing later. This has the effect of dulling and blunting the performance when the playing is for real. So, practice something else which addresses the same concerns. My main concern was calisthenic, so I turned to the lonely guitarist’s terror of LV (yet to be recorded) instead. This drew me along into further pencil frenzy on the current end section of “Larks’ V”.
The first takes were warming up. Then, I leant into it. Looking over the guitarist’s shoulder, as I do from time to time, I noticed that this was more than a metaphor: the body physically leant forward a little, and the playing reflected this: phrases got pushed slightly ahead of the beat, felt a little edgier, even a little unhinged. In other words, the notes were performed rather than played, the difference between accuracy and music.
[Excerpt from RF’s Diary – November 24th. 1999]
I love RF's philosophical takes on his work. Very happy he blazes his own trail (wherever it leads him), instead of trying to please the fickle masses.
One of the many things that wonders me about Robert Fripp, besides his music, is the ability to play sitting on a bench with his back perfectly straight, and with a Gibson Les Paul hanging. Wish I knew how to do that...
When I'm composing a song, very drawn into it, even on an acoustic guitar, sooner or later I will curl my back over the instrument... it ends in discomfort