Gianni Savino_

PRIORITIES

For a long time it was really difficult for me to know what my priorities were. I dispersed my time in between my guitar, drums, philosophy, hanging out with my family and friends, sports, and my hobbies (which by that time were quite a few). I did everything and didn’t do anything right. I had to go through a delicate illness to beginning getting perspective on things. First I realized that everything in my life was part of a whole, and that I couldn’t separate things as if they were different universes that instead of working with each other, worked as enemies. This realization brought a lot of comfort to my life. Music, sports, family, philosophy, were not against my wants and desires, they were my compliment to it. However, I did find out that if I wanted to do something right I had to select one of my activities, otherwise, as a friend says, I would be like the ducks : they swim, walk and fly, and none of these they do right.

As a career I chose to be a musician, and in this area, my main instrument was going to be my guitar and my secondary instrument was going to be the drum set. Of course, I couldn’t make this decision on my own, so I let life give me hints in order for me to know what to do. What concerns family, I knew that I had to conciliate things and bring peace to my household. Still, I couldn’t separate them from my professional career. They became my support and inspiration to almost all my compositions and playing. Last but not least, I realized that I couldn’t stop exercising myself. Practicing sports was always an immense part of my life. So I keep in my daily routine some workout, jogging and of course healthy food.

The most important thing in life for me is health. This is not just exercising, eating well, sleeping well… but also having peace in my heart. As I said before, since everything is part of a whole, unless I am able to balance my things, my health will be compromised, no matter what. Your body is a reflection of your soul. Family and music play a similar role to me. To be healthy I need to carry an honest relationship with those around me… and with my career as well.

So, stay healthy, stay honest and think about your priorities. All I know as a musician is that this writing explains quite a bit the genesis of everything I play in my guitar

Thanks for reading,

Gianni

DETERMINACIÓN

Si en tu propia casa no recibes apoyo es difícil creer que lo vas a encontrar afuera. Sin embargo, un adagio dice que nadie es profeta en su tierra, así que la indiferencia de los cercanos no debe sino darnos indicios de que algo de lo que hacemos tendrá reconocimiento en otro lugar.

Lo único que nos garantiza que nuestra elección de vida traerá prosperidad, es la determinación en esta premisa y la constancia que le damos a tal determinación.

En mi caso, por ejemplo, llevaba treinta años dudando mis sentimientos por nada más que por el miedo generado por la incertidumbre de mi falta de constancia. Las repetidas señales presentes me obligaron a tomar una decisión radical y concretar la decisión de mi elección con responsabilidad.

Inyectar responsabilidad a una elección agiliza los resultados que de esta se obtengan.

Mis padres nunca quisieron que yo fuera músico. Crecieron en los sesentas y tal entorno les generó un constante pánico que les imprimió en sus creencias que el mundo de la música no era otra cosa que el que veían en su alrededor inmediato. (Segunda sentencia: el mundo inmediato es ficticio y tiene una fuerte tendencia a ser diametralmente opuesto al mundo mediato.) Su oposición sin embargo, generó en mí resistencia y capricho. Con lo segundo sobreviví mi adolescencia; con lo primero me hice lo que hoy soy.

Sé de muchos músicos sin demasiado talento, o sin demasiados conocimientos musicales. Su determinación emocional ha podido suplir sus carencias técnicas. No es fácil para mí - sin decir con esto que sea yo un gran sabedor de música - disfrutar composiciones sin riqueza musical o demasiado elementales, sí en cambio, me resulta facilísimo disfrutar la pasión y determinación que un compositor le imprime a sus trabajos. Sea de la música que sea, del género que sea, de la naturaleza que sea. Insito, la determinación emocional suple las carencias técnicas.

Así que, a todos los desterrados ¡No os aflijáis! Y no busquéis excusas. La música que está dentro de cada uno es eterna y solo requiere de la determinación de cada uno para concretarla y llevarla a la luz (aunque siempre se encuentra en la luz). Es imperioso compartir lo que se crea. Es a penas responsable... Es nuestro deber.

Gracias por leer,

Gianni

NECESSARY GEAR

A lot of musicians think about gear more than they think about the music they are making with it. When I was young I used to read all the magazines that offered gear, whether recording, drums, keyboards, guitars or sound. My dream was to own a complete recording studio, several drum sets, guitars and workstations. In fact, I owned several gear; too much actually, to the point where I found out that I wasn’t able to properly use all of it.

I sold six of my seven guitars, all pedal boards, recording consoles, my drum sets and other stuff. I realized I was dedicating an excessive amount of time to understanding these instruments and accessories and was forgetting the most important aspect of my musicianship which was to study my six string acoustic classical guitar.

I still believe that is important to get whatever gear you need to build your music, but I also believe that is it important for you to get perspective on what you really need and how you will need to use it. A lot of musicians get lost in their way. This doesn’t happen because they own too much stuff, but because they don’t know what they have it for. I’ve seen jazz drummers who never use a kit with more that four pieces, and own tons of toms and snares which they don’t even have the time to tune; guitar players with ten or so guitars which are always out of tune, with intonation problems and wearing old sets of strings. I had a twelve channel recording console for my solo guitar recording at home!

Nowadays my dream is to play as professional as I can my instrument, with or without all the apparel and gear that may be “necessary”… In fact the only necessary gear I really need is my body and my guitar. Even though I carry an electronic tuner, when it comes to the real tuning of the instrument I prefer to use my ears.

So think about this, and no matter how you feel about the subject, concentrate yourself on studying your instrument, on making honest music and on sharing it with everybody. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t own what you would like. I get by with an acoustic guitar and I have never enjoyed music so much.

Thanks for reading,

Gianni

OTHER WEB SITES

You can find more information about my music in:

http://www.myspace.com/giannisavinomusic

Thanks for listening!