Letter From America: Wanted - Men With Pluck
Ronnie Bray recalls the day when he learned that pluck is required of everyone, not just of guitar players.
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Many guitar aficionados will have heard of Andrés Segovia, but few, if any, will recognise the name of Ross Shepherd although each played the classical guitar. Segovia's quest to have the humble guitar accepted as a solo instrument with the same standing as the piano and violin, was undertaken in the face of discouragement from his family, and the expectation of failure from the music world on the grounds that it was simply a peasant instrument.
Yet young Andrés was not to be discouraged, having loved the instrument since he first heard it at the age of four. "When I was young I wanted to play the guitar," he wrote, "But I was told it wasn’t respectable. My father broke three guitars to stop me from practising." With a degree of persistence matched only by his prodigious talent, he continued to practice and study, transcribing for the guitar the works of such musical giants as Bach and Scarlatti.
He began giving public concerts when he was fifteen, impressing audiences with the adroitness of his technique and musicianship, and converted sceptics to the classical guitar. In 1923 he played in London. The music critic for the Times newspaper went to hear him expecting to be bored to tears. But his report stated, "We remained to hear the last possible note, for it was the most delightful surprise of the season."
Segovia loomed over the classical guitar world like a Titan until his death in his nineties. He had not only established the guitar as an important concert instrument, and inspired many composers to write important pieces for it, but he also became a teacher who freely shared his talent with those who demonstrated exceptional faculty at guitar playing. One such talented youngster was Ross Shepherd.
I met Ross Shepherd in Bournemouth. He was a bright, handsome American boy who was strumming his guitar when his companion invited me to their apartment. He played "Romance" by Isaac Albeniz, which I first heard played by Segovia on television. It was an electrifying moment. When he had concluded, he sat the guitar up on his knees and smiled. I was effusive in my appreciation.
It was obvious that Ross harboured a phenomenal talent. We spoke briefly, because he had to prepare himself to change into outdoor clothing to keep some appointments. Foolishly I asked if he had heard of Segovia. He had heard of him. Not only that, but he had been granted a scholarship to study under him. I was impressed, but I was even more impressed when he told me that he had declined the offer because he had been called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was at that time ‘Elder’ Shepherd, who, with his companion, was charged with finding and teaching people in the Bournemouth area of England the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of course, I knew that when I met him, but before his revelation I did not know of the sacrifice he had made to serve a mission. I called it a sacrifice, but he dismissed it, because he considered that doing the right things at the right time was more important.
I do not know what blessings Father in Heaven has poured out on the head of Ross Shepherd during the past forty years, but I would be surprised to learn that he had lost out because he heeded the call to serve instead of pursuing what must have been a very tempting offer of tutelage by the father of the classical guitar.
I had to repent of the short-term view I initially took of his situation, and felt much better when I did. Life is a gift not to be spent selfishly doing only those things that benefit us directly, but a call to service, and service to others is the only way to truly worship God, and those who serve are remembered and blessed appropriately, whether in the world or out of it.
Taking the long-term view is the guarantee that all our actions will be appropriate, and that we will fail only when it comes to being selfish. Even though he did not get to sit at the feet of the genius, I am confidant that Elder Shepherd learned a great deal from Andrés Segovia, including the need for courage in the face of adversity, and that his not taking up the scholarship did not in any way preclude him having a happy life.
But I doubt that anything he could have learned would have had any greater consequences than the lesson I learned from him that sunny day in the missionary digs in Bournemouth when I learned from a guitar playing missionary that the best long-term view is an eternal perspective, and that pluck is an essential requirement for everyone – not only for guitar players.
Copyright © 2006 Ronnie Bray
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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