Speak Up: How a Few Words Can Enhance Your Musical Presentation
Musical Interpretation and Musicianship
For the past hundred and fifty years or so, classical music concerts have been somewhat of a hallowed affair: performers wearing formal attire, presenting the music in a highly ritualized environment; the audience sitting passively and quietly, waiting to receive their fix of the sublime. In such an environment, talking might seem sacrilegious. When performers […]
Read MoreWhat I Really Learned in School
Editorials
Anyone who happens to have connected with me on social media may have seen that I recently took a full time job. This effectively put my doctoral school “career” on hold for a while (perhaps indefinitely). In the past six months I’ve been learning a ton very nerdy computer stuff: programming with Python and PHP, […]
Read MoreLet’s Get Louder: Amplification Solutions for the Classical Guitar (Part One)
Classical Guitar Amplification
The contemporary guitarist is destined to encounter performance situations in which amplification is necessary—from the vast majority of orchestral concerti to TV and radio shows, in addition to less formal (but equally lucrative!) settings such as weddings and background-music gigs. Fortunately, technology has improved considerably in the past dozen years or so, leading to a […]
Read More2011 Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition Winners
Classical Guitar News
The Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition was held September 26 – October 1, 2011. First Prize: Cecilio Perera (Mexico) Second Prize: Kyu-hee Park (South Korea) Third Prize: Jonathan Bolivar (Venezuela) Watch Winner Cecilio Perera Play source
Read More2011 Francisco Tarrega Classical Guitar Competition Winners
Classical Guitar News
The 2011 edition of the Guitar Competition Francisco Tárrega was held August 29 – September 2, 2011. First Prize: Srdjan Bulat (Croatia) Second Prize: Andras Csáki (Hungary) Other Finalists: Mircea Stefan Gogoncea (Romania) & Marko Topchii (Ukraine) Watch Winner Srdjan Bulat Play source
Read MoreHow to Structure Your Next Recital Program
Musical Interpretation and Musicianship
Omitting the Intermission Having warned about the dangers of excessively long programs in the first installment of this series, let me backtrack and suggest that sometimes a program might work better without an intermission at all. Some venues (either the most “sophisticated” ones, or those not accustomed to classical recitals) have a dispiriting tendency to […]
Read MoreFree Guitar Method from Classical Guitar Canada
Classical Guitar News
A while by ClassicalGuitar.org featured a review of the Guitar Victoria Method, a book by fellow classical guitar blogger Bradford Werner of Classical Guitar Canada. Bradford has decided to give the PDF version of this book away for free, and you can get it here. All that’s required is a name and email.
Read MoreKithara Duo in Fort Worth, TX
Classical Guitar Concert Reviews
Kithara Duo opened Guitar Fort Worth‘s 2011/12 concert season on September 9th, 2011. Fernand Vera and Olga Amelkina-Vera make up the husband/wife duo. Their concert opened with a short work by Olga: Prelude and Bagatelle. It was a restrained work, with a lot of beautiful harmonies. The next work, Los Buzos, was a originally a […]
Read MoreAustin Pictures: The Biggest Guitar Concert (Ever?)
Classical Guitar News
Austin Pictures is a huge, multimedia concert which includes one string quartet, one guitar virtuoso, a new piece of music, 100+ young guitarists, and artwork by high-school artists (including a video about their work). It all happens October 1, 2011 The whole concert is put on by the Austin Classical Guitar Society, and opens with […]
Read MoreThree Ways to Build a Program
Musical Interpretation and Musicianship
We’ve talked about some guidelines to keep in mind when crafting a new program — but what are some criteria to actually make a good one? 1. The Ecumenical Approach Also known as the Senior Recital Program: a bit of everything, with selections from all major stylistic periods (for the uninitiated: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, […]
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