Guitar World

Ever attended a guitar summer school? It’s a great way to meet other players, students, performers even composers. I doubt any of us will come out better players for simply being there, but it’s a great way to find seek motivation and direction.

Here is a list of upcoming attractions:

Dillington summer school and festival, Ilminster Summerset UK. For details e-mail guitarandcompany@ukgateway.net

Tutors    Peter Rueffer, Lorraine Eastwood, Steve Marsh, Arne Brattland (Good to see this fine player in the UK again)

As well as summer school there is also a guitar festival featuring…

“Together” – Music for Guitar and Harpsichord. Peter Rueffer, Lorraine Eastwood, Steve Marsh, Arne Brattland, and special guests Debra Adamson, Nick Hunt and Bruce Grindlay.

Sunday 3 August 2003 - 6.30pm

The Katona Twins - Classical Guitar Duo

Monday 4 August 2003 - 8.00pm

Arctic Guitar Trio – Guitar trio from Norway

Tuesday 5 August 2003 - 8.00pm

Eduardo Niebla Duo – Spanish Guitar Duo

Wednesday 6 August 2003 - 8.00pm

Groningen Guitar Duo – Classical Guitar from Holland

Thursday 7 August 2003 - 8.00pm

West Dean International Guitar Festival  Chichester, UK.

Featuring concerts and masterclasses by Roland Dyens, Ben Verdery, Berta Rojas. I had the pleasure of seeing Rojas last year, if you ever get the chance to attend a concert by her, I strongly recommend do it! Event commence early July to late August.

Cheltnham Guitar Festival   University of Gloucestershire, Cheltnham, UK,  24 to 30 July 2010.

 Guests David Russell, Nigel North & Scott Tennant

Tutors Tom Kerstens & Amanda Cook

If you are attending any of these, please let me know hwo you get on

One day last week while at work a colleagues  mobile phone went off, and it was the ringtone which appears to be the most popular, you all know the one I’m sure..I happened to mention to her that the ringtone was originally an extract from a  classical guitar  piece by Tarrega, here is the clip in it’s true context: Vals extract

She replied, to my surprise, that she knew the piece on guitar, had heard it recently, and liked it. For some reason, when a non guitarist admits to knowing a guitar work it always comes as a surprise to me. Perhaps I am thinking we guitarists are still in our own little, private world, or maybe it’s ME who is that:))

This particular mobile ringtone is generally regarded as annoying, though I doubt it’s the ringtone itself, only people tend to get cheesed off when another person’s mobile rings in a public place. Myself included, I guess.

It would be interesting to speculate on Tarrega’s reaction, if he knew how his innocuous little phrase was being interpreted. Appalled, perhaps, regarding it’s out of context use? Or even flattered, given it’s popularity?

It’s true that I sometimes am at pains to point out to people (at the risk of being a total bore, perish the thought) the ringtone’s origin, if only to raise the public profile of our instrument. In this respect, this post may serve as a little test..By tagging it ringtone, I will look to see how many hits I get from search engine traffic looking for ringtones :))

Here is the full piece I discovered on youtube. Anyone guess the guitarist in this recording?

I have added some relatively easy Flamenco to my music page, I am working on. I’m currently looking to refresh my “normal” type of recital, which is Spanish and Latin romantic. So thanks to my friend Eloisa for sending me this one to work on Also some song arrangements I am looking at.

Flamenco does not come easy to me, it’s a great form of improvised music though, so anything I can currently work on must be quite easy to play.

I’m open to suggestions from anyone for mini recital material, Flamenco, or even easy jazz Thanks for any suggestions

John Williams, on this BBC Radio 4 programme ”Great Lives”, explains his love of Agustin Barrios music, and is joined in discussion  by Berta Rojas. The radio link will dissapear after a while, in it’s place I hope to offer a transcript.

Williams explains the chordal harmonies of Barrios music, and Rojas relates some history and the origins of Barrios music.

We all know nerves can shatter our performance…Whatever we play in practice is so much harder in public, and many times, I like many others, have felt I have not done myself or the music justice by the way I’ve played after a performance.

A lot has to do with preparation. The need to practice until finger movements become automatic. Which means of course, you have to have much time to practice and prepare. I have felt it is useful to have about a dozen or so pieces that are always “on the back burner” so I can call on them to be ready to play at almost any time. That leaves some room for new pieces that can be slowly developed in practice. BUT, constant repetition of pieces (to the point of playing on auto pilot) can easily lead to going musically stale.

John Williams in an interview said the root of nerves is lack of confidence. An extension of this I feel is negative thoughts, perhaps about oneself, or even the venue where you are asked to play, limited time for preparation ect. Maybe even bad past experience can play on your mind, such as “I hope it’s not like THAT again”…Other common thoughts can include “I am not as good as..” or “I have not practiced enough” or “my technique is flawed”. If you can focus on your most negative thought, you are on the way towards a more positive thought that can work for you, instead of against.

                                                    Self Discovery

One way towards a more confident performance is looking inside ourselves, as opposed to attempting to take on board formulas that claim have helped many other players. Towards this process, try to understand how your inner voice can shape your feelings. Whereas negative thoughts can stimulate fear and self doubt, positive thoughts can create a positive outlook. It is easier to control thoughts than feelings. What we say to ourselves, and how we say it, is a factor in how we will perform under pressure. When musical expression is in synch with our inner soul, it can create an inner strength built on assurance.

                                                  Determine your priorities

It helps to focus on your abilities and how to use them. If you feel a technical weakness, work on it at home, for example,  don’t play something like Recuerdos in public if you feel tremolo is not your strong point.

If practice time is limited before a performance our lives, and therefore playing, can appear out of control. Add an audience to that and panic can set in. Look at your priorities and take some tough choices. Consider the music you want to play and ask yourself if you are expressing it in the way you would like to express it. And not the way maybe others do. Does your technique allow you to do this? If not, maybe make a list of pieces to perform that you have more playing control over.

To overcome nerves, first you need to free yourself of impossible goals, or even hard to attain goals. This need not restrict your aspirations, just leave them to one side, and think of playing in public experience like you do technique, like building blocks. Start building from the bottom upwards.

Try to define what you want out of a performance…You will want to do your best, but “best” is VERY rare, for almost every player. Are you satisfied with a performance that is clean, memorised..I myself try never to “sell myself”. I prefer to attempt to express the music, to express what I feel about it.

                                                   Understand the fear

It’s easy to think beforehand “no one will respect me if I mess it up” or hating the thought of letting composers music down. It can help to discuss it with others, to open up the topic rather than keep it as a secret fear. Eventually, the goal here is to make performance anxiety a part of our musical training, as much a part of how to interpret and phrase. No guide will ever in itself help us to overcome the fear. But to understand the fear, and why it is there,  is maybe the first step towards overcoming it.

Berta Rojas is interviewed by Matt Warnock at Modern Guitarist, you can read the interview here. The interview is on the subject of Rojas DVD recital on the music of Agustin Barrios, which I reviewed on a previous post. Interestingly, Matt asks Berta about her preperation for the DVD, as compared to a concert preperation, something I myself have pondered..DVD recordings are becoming deservedly more popular these days, I hope to see more available. Well done Matt, with this interview.

Berta is performing in concert at Southampton Guitar Society, 14th November.

Other concerts of interest in November;

5th Xuefei Yang, Lighthouse, Poole.

15th John Williams recital, Wirral International Guitar Festival.

28th  Carlos Bonell, St. Mary’s Church, East Lothian, Scotland.

Stafford Guitar Centre are offering two weekend study courses, the second of which is in November. at Wedgwood Memorial College.

Volume 2 of Ten Popular Songs for guitar, arranged by Chris Dummigan, is now available at Guitar Notes. I myself have volume 1, I’m always looking for good arrangements of songs for classical guitar.

ABC Classics have released this promotion video of Karin Schaupp. Her latest CD is the great guitar concerto’s, including Bacarisses little-known Concertino, Romancero Gitano, and the much played Rodrigo Arranjuez.

In the video she said she’d thought of Castelnuovo Tedesco concerto, partly because it is rarely recorded. What a pity she did not include this often overlooked gem, in my opinion (I can feel another post coming on) ….Anyway, from this video, the recording sounds great

Here is a link to an interview with David Russell, by Tony Morris of guitaralive, in which Russell relates the reason there have been some Barrios works still not discovered;

David Russell on Agustin Barrios.

Recently, there has been an exciting discovery, the tango Bicho Feo (Ugly Beast) has been found. This humorous tango Barrios often played at the end of his concerts, to bring the house down! The piece was recorded by Barrios in Argentina, and the recording by the composer himself has been discovered, and now Chanterelle have updated their “complete” Barrios recordings to include this piece on the CD set.

Other works missing by Barrios (as far as I know) that are of particular interest to me are; Recuerdos Del Pacifico, Gloria e Amor, Rapsodia Latinamericano…It’s quite possible that some of the works listed as “lost” or not in manuscript, are in fact what we know as another title. Example, “Saudades dol Rio De Janeiro”, possibly Choro Da Saudade?

I wait to hear this new work with interest

With some public performances coming up, and so  putting my head on the block again :oops I thought I’d share my play-list ideas with you…For the present, I am modifying my classical repertoire, and including more songs, thinking of my playing venue and the occasion. So, here is the list I am currently revising to play;

Cazone D’Amor, Maria Linnemann

Vincent (Starry Starry Night), Don McLean

Here Comes The Sun, George Harrison

Looking Through The Eyes Of Love, Marvin Hamlisch, Arranged by Cesar Amaro.

Before Silence, Per Olov Kindgren

Milonga, Cardoso

Cancion Del Cuna, Leo Brower

Julia Florida, Barrios

Cavatina, Stanley Myers

A few “reserves” to include, dependent on how much time alloted to play, Eterna Saudade, Reis, and the usual Recuerdos Alhambra, Tarrega. The latter is nearly always requested anyway.

As you can see, a romantic play-list, again Am I embarassed to include nearly all romantic? Well, I guess that’s the style I enjoy playing most, and best I think. I would like to spice things up a little, but currently I practice far less than I should, so my list needs to be not hard to play. If any guitarist knows any music perhaps more dance like which is quite easy, I’d love to hear any recommendations

Many thanks, and enjoy your music.

I’ve often thought about the difference between a decent amateur performance and a polished professional rendition of a piece of music. The elimination of buzzes, squeaks and clicks are obvious factors, but there is more to it than that..I think a lot of it has to do with cleanness of playing, like each note and overtone getting no more or less it’s intended duration, and rhythm.

Julian Bream Masterclass

I watched an old Julian Bream masterclass recently, where a player was interpreting Granada by Albeniz. This is a piece not too hard to play perhaps, but to get it precise is another matter. By that I mean it’s one thing to play the notes, but very easy to fall into the trap of indulging oneself in the music to the extent of dwelling on notes for effect, particularly if you have visited the city of Granada itself, and fell in love with it’s beauty.

Rubato Effects

The problem with pausing on certain notes is that it’s all too easy to lose the rhythmic pulse of the piece. In his class, Bream stressed to the student that the accompanying notes, the three quavers in thirds above the melody, must be exactly on the beat. And any “melodic bending” as Bream himself put it, or rubato effects, must fall within the same rhythmic framework, and not to take any longer overall than each bar indicates.

Watch a brief extract from the masterclass with Bream explaining;

 http://guitar.markantony.net/video/Bream.flv

The lesson here being that rubato effects can still be incorporated into our playing, but not to the extent of destroying the rhythmic pulse of the music.