ilva always had his participants organized, and began each of his sessions promptly at 2:00 p.m. He would situate himself to the right of each participant, in a good position to hear and see what they were doing. Silva would listen first - kind of "follow" his ears - and when he heard something of note, he would look to see what the person was doing. He did this repeatedly, assembling mentally a comprehensive summary of the "state of affairs" present for each piece being performed. When students finished playing, Silva would deliver, point-by-point, a description of what was and wasn't happening in the performance. His commentary ranged from broad statements to small details, and differed from each piece being played. Following this overview, he would have the student play selected parts of the piece concerned, and specific instruction dealing with particular problems would begin. Each student was allowed 15-25 minutes, and at the end of each turn, Silva would offer some general advice geared to the person's individual situation. Rather than deal with individual performers and particular pieces, I will describe, in summary fashion, as much of Silva's material as I can.
Silva provided a lot of material on general performance habits. Chief among these many concepts was that of flexibility, i.e., keeping all parts of the body pliable and ready for musical application. He preferred to use this term rather than relaxation, which he held to be confusing due to its many "possible states." Flexible is "loose," but not limp or languid. Silva also saw the whole body as an interrelated unit which supports the activity of the fingers of both hands. One does not play only with the fingers, but also with the shoulder, arm, and wrist as well. Therefore, one must sit with "balance," so as to gain the most freedom from natural movement - the whole body must be flexible. Yet the instrument is placed, or "cradled" if you will, on its flexible human platform so that it is as totally immobile as possible, thus minimizing error by eliminating movement of the instrument itself. Only those movements of the trunk, shoulder, arm, and wrist that support the activities of the fingers are permissible. All extraneous body movements must be avoided. Musicians use only what they have to . . . to get the desired sound. All else is unnecessary. So, don't "wave" your head or jerk your body about, these are "cover-up" mechanisms used to hide the truth: musically, things aren't so good! Forget about moving around to show how "sensitive" you are and what a "great artist" has just descended - music is sound, not a visual show - therefore produce sounds, not "sights." And don't "tap time" with your feet. It is easy to fall into this bad habit. It puts unwanted sounds into the performance - noise -and the eye-action of the audience follows this, and it follows that they then stop thinking about listening to the music you're playing. The only motion that is needed is that which keeps you flexible. You are there to convey a musical message so do that and nothing else. Think only about the music, focus your attention and rule out everything else. Think of the first phrase of the music, take a deep breath, begin to exhale, and play!

Charles Cavanaugh performs in the Master Class conducted by Jesus Silva

Silva offered much good material about practicing. First and foremost, he felt, that one must always work with the element of patience. Do a little every day. It takes a period of time to learn a work. One must learn, also, to listen. Develop a "mind-eye mirror." What you think, you must hear yourself play. Memorizing should be easy -mostly everything is memorized in the course of learning a piece. But be meticulous in the learning process. . . work carefully, and with patience. It is a case of repetition. Each piece will have to be played hundreds of times before it is tops!! Forget so-called "short cuts." Look for the "little things" that are wrong, then correct them, one-by-one, patiently and carefully. By doing this, you will learn to play the guitar. Always reach for the proper sound - it is your guide, not "picture perfect" technique. Sound is the goal, not physical action. Use any technique based on good, logical concepts to produce music. Use logic to correct the "many little things" until the "sound-peak" is attained, and you will be a fine player. Practice pieces off the score and not "by ear." You digest the musicality of pieces - proper timing (pulse), rhythm, etc. - by paying attention to a score, not to a record or copying others when they do it. Study music so you understand scores, then play from them. Scores are friends, not enemies.
Silva had the most to say about "things musical." Each piece played received much commentary, but 90% of it was about musical matters rather than technical or philosophical. Music, Silva continually maintained, is always the best teacher. Just "touch the strings" of your guitar to get sound - make them sing out - even raucous sounds. You must blend everything together into a musical line, balance the many parts of compositions. You must be aware of every single thing in music. Everything is important, connected and interrelated. You must always observe musical considerations: the cadences, rests, phrasing, and so on. You must thoroughly learn the music. All sounds have meaning in music, and must be played to add their part in a composition - and in turn must be blended into a balanced musical line that is always heard clearly. Strive for musical clarity, balance, and precision and develop a sense of dynamics, articulation and tone color . . . these provide you with a means of change and shading. Music has many "currents" of expression. Exploit them, but always follow the music, . . . it always decides where you will use these things. Music always decides the course of action. Think of music as a well-established language with common norms, concepts, ideas, and systems that always provides a definite musical line. It should "pop out" at you: this is what is being said. Music usually is simple and forthright. Its message must come through. Listen for it, take it, then say it! And don't get worried about "proper style," just get to the basic message first and the rest easily falls into place. Above all, don't let technique dominate your thinking. "You can use many techniques you can develop an ability for many ways of doing things to achieve what you feel musically. But it must "work" musically. If one technique doesn't bring it out musically, then use another, and another until it does. Technique then, is merely a systemized collection of physical means which produce a musical end. Technique never supersedes musical considerations. Therefore, beware of "mechanical playing" - an overconsciousness with the technical aspects of guitar -just try to "fill it with music." And don't preoccupy yourself with "sets of rules" as it is difficult to set up rules in the arts domain. Just try to follow good musical practices. Look at each piece of music concerned and do as it tells you: music is the best teacher. If you do as it tells you to, you will become a fine musician -who happens to be a guitar player!

Douglas Neidt- Reception following concert consisting of music by Villa-Lobos, Bach, Ravel, Bustamante, Escobar, Kleindiner, Brubeck and Meyer

Silva mentioned over and over again one factor that he felt was necessary for the development of all guitarists. "Every guitarist needs a conductor." "Every guitarist should be a conductor." "Rent a conductor for a while." What Silva was pointing out was the need for an organizing and unifying element within the practice/development procedure - a unifying musical element that ties the music and musician together so that they become an expressive whole. "With a conductor," said Silva, "I wouldn't hear people skipping so many rests, putting in extra beats, lacking phrasing, pursuing uneven tempos, and so on." But how many of us can "rent" a conductor? Again says Silva, learn to listen - through discipline, you must become your own conductor. The point is to pay strict attention to the fundamental factors of quality musical performance at all times.
I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Jesus Silva class. He is a man of immense knowledge and an experienced teacher. To be sure, I have heard some of these points before particularly from Latin American guitarists (Juan Mercadal, Abel Carlevaro). But Silva's teaching technique is that of passing on values in addition to concepts, methods and techniques. The primary value being passed on is the maintenance of musical standards of high quality. I hope I have been able to show this in this summary. Finally, Silva's teaching "manner" - which I believe stems from his non-forceful, non-egotistical low-key personality - served to quickly eliminate the "intimidation factor" which always seems to be present in Master Classes, and allowed performers and auditors to gain the maximum educational benefit in the given time. Silva's steady and consistent dialogue, softly delivered, created attention and respect, with pressure clearly minimized. I hope I will have another opportunity to attend a Master Class taught by Maestro Jesus Silva.