Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music.(Book review)

* Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music, by Glenn Kurtz. Vintage, a division of Random House, 2008. www.randomhouse.com/vintage; (800) 793-2665; 239 pp. $13.95.

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From the title, one would think Glenn Kurtz wrote a "how to" book on the art of practicing. Yet, this book is an autobiography, Kurtz's exploration of what it means to practice and his poignant struggle with ideals and disillusionment. It is an interesting read for a practicing musician wishing to relive the times he or she went through as an undergraduate, striving to become the best performer possible and perhaps achieve that elusive goal of a career in music. For us, as professional musicians (a singer and a pianist), this book inspired a discussion about how musicians think about their careers, the attitude it takes to pursue music and what it means to enjoy the process of practicing, studying and spending our lives with music. For a beginning musician, Practicing is a touching story of a journey that leads to emotional turmoil and personal decisions of what a career in music can mean. It is a story of a love affair with an instrument, but as we see at the end of the book, a one sided affair.

The book begins with Kurtz's love for the guitar and the lessons taken, and the hours of practice a student of music must undergo. It is chock full of marvelous quotes about practice and art by Casals, Menuhin, Segovia, Rousseau, Landowska, Martha Graham and many others from all fields of artistic endeavor, showing Kurtz's aspirations of achieving the heights with the stars of classical music. Perhaps this is why in the end he was not able to attain his goals of a professional career.

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