ClassicalGuitar.org: What was the path that led you to the classical guitar? Were you taking formal lesson as a child, or did you start out playing in a different genre, as is the case with many present-day players?

Jon Mendle: I started out playing electric guitar when I was twelve. I actually picked up the guitar kind of on a whim—a friend of mine got one as a birthday present one year and I thought it was really cool. I asked for one for Christmas the same year and Santa came through for me. At first I wanted to learn stuff like Metallica and Rage Against the Machine, then I became interested in shred guitar—got into Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Marty Friedman, Yngwie Malmsteen, and so forth. That’s how I got interested in finding out what the guitar can really do technically and musically.

A couple of things got me into classical guitar—my first teacher, Matthew Grasso, is an accomplished classical player and he would show me some classical stuff from time to time that would blow my mind. Also, Yngwie Malmsteen, of whom I was a huge fan, always spoke very highly of classical composers like Bach and Paganini, so I started to think that classical music could have more to offer me than rock music.

Hearing Bach on the guitar sealed the deal for me—I knew I had to play classical. The recording that sold me was Segovia playing the Gigue from BWV 997. I fell in love with that piece and worked parts of it out on electric guitar before I had a classical. I got my first classical when I was 15 and haven’t looked back since.

CG.org: You play on extended range instruments, like the 7- and 11-string guitar. How do you approach them?

Jon: I started playing 7 string guitar in 2004, Matt Grasso had been playing one for a while and I became really interested in what the extra range could add to the guitar. I also played an 11 string for the first time that year, but had to wait until I had one built for me in 2007 before I could focus entirely on that instrument.

My approach to the extended range is to utilize it as much as possible, but not in a forced way. I don’t play much 6 string repertoire, because I feel like most music written for guitar is complete as is, and changing or adding basses isn’t always tasteful. And playing that music as-is on an extended range guitar doesn’t do the guitar many favors. I seek out my own repertoire and play mostly my own transcriptions. Almost all of my repertoire is 16th-19th century music. I do play some 20th century music on every concert that I give, though again it’s not the usual fare—pieces by Aaron Jay Kernis, Matt Grasso, or something I’ve written myself. I’ve also played music by the great 11-string guitarist James Kline, who introduced me to the instrument, and I’m currently working on Philip Rosheger’s beautiful “Serenade,” which works great on my guitar. I’m in the process of seeking out new music from living composers for my instrument, and I have at least one piece on the way, so it will be exciting to see where that goes.

CG.org: Earlier in 2011 you released a recording of 18th-century German music, L’Infidele, featuring works by C.P.E. Bach, Falckenhagen, and Weiss, all played on your 11-string archguitar. Tell me about how you went adapting this music to the instrument—two of the works are originally for 13-course lute, and the Bach is a keyboard piece.

Jon: I arranged the music on this album with my guitar in hand—the archguitar has the same range as the 13 course baroque lute, so what was challenging was finding the right fingerings and articulations to do the music justice. Much of it is very idiomatic on the lute but not so much on the guitar, as the instruments have very different tunings. The first 6 strings of my guitar are in standard tuning, whereas the baroque lute’s first 6 courses were tuned to an open d-minor chord. So my approach was to keep the slurring and phrasing style of baroque lute music in mind, but come up with solutions that felt as natural to guitar as the ear allowed.

As for the C.P.E. Bach piece, there are a few licks in there that are ridiculously hard! Again, it was a process of trial and error. I fell in love with the first movement and wanted to see if it would work on my guitar. When it did, I went on to the other two. I took the standard approach of preserving melody and bass first, and then keeping as much of the inner voices as I could.

CG.org: In the summer of 2010 you joined Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble—a musical group that aims to draw a connection between Western and Eastern musical styles. Could you describe your experience performing with the ensemble?

Jon: Playing with the Silk Road Ensemble was an amazing experience. The Ensemble really feels like a big family, and everyone is really nice, very supportive, and a great musician to boot. Yo-Yo Ma is one of the kindest people you could imagine—he really has a passion for people, and giving back through music is a huge part of his artistic vision. The Ensemble’s outreach programs and his commitment to helping young musicians such as myself are amazing testaments to this.

My biggest take-away from the experience was how the Ensemble works together and rehearses—Yo-Yo motivates through encouragement. I never felt like I was playing with an authority figure, rather he made it feel more like playing with a friend. One might think that this could foster a lack of serious effort, in that he is always very kind in how he gives advice and rehearses, but I don’t think so. I (amazingly) didn’t feel any added pressure working with him—he was very encouraging when things improved or when he liked something. But I know that this wasn’t because it couldn’t be better. Instead, it made me want to give more, to reach the next level in the piece we were working on, rather than stay where I was with it.

The other thing is that Yo-Yo is always trying to learn from the musicians he works with. If he liked something that someone played during a warm-up or rehearsal, he was always curious about it, and would often ask them to teach it to him. The whole group learns form each other in that way, and so it’s “fusion” in every sense of the word.

CG.org: Currently you are a member of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, and the Pacific Guitar Ensemble—a Bay Area supergroup which includes S.F. Conservatory faculty members David Tanenbaum, Marc Teicholz, and Larry Ferrara, fingerstyle guitarist Peppino D’Agostino, and your fellow SFCM alumni Michael Bautista, Tony Kakamakov, and Paul Psarras. Tell me more about your experience playing in these groups.

Jon: Ensemble playing has become a big part of what I do, and performing with both the San Francisco Guitar Quartet and the Pacific Guitar Ensemble has been a lot of fun. The SFGQ is a very progressive group with a focus on 20th/21st century music and works written for us. With the Pacific Guitar Ensemble we also play a fair amount of “chestnuts”, so to speak—Bach, Dowland, Brahms, Mozart—which is great because I love that music and I am very much pro-transcription. The guitar repertoire is just too limited without arrangements.

Both groups are a lot of fun to work with – it’s been an honor to get to perform with some of my professors in the PGE. Sergio Assad is writing us a new piece for mixed ensemble that we are set to premier in the spring which is going to include instruments like electric guitar, bass, oud, steel string acoustic and more—so that’s very exciting and we are looking forward to that. The SFGQ has given me some great opportunities to travel and play—we went to Dresden, Germany, last year, and it’s become one of my favorite cities. This past September we had the honor of opening up for Pepe Romero at the La Guitarra California festival in San Luis Obispo, and that was a blast. I met a lot of great people and heard some absolutely stunning playing by the other artists.

CG.org: What about your solo performance? What are some of your upcoming projects?

Jon: I’ve been playing concerts as much as I can this year in support of my album, and that’s taken me up and down the west coast and into Nevada. As I said, I’m also taking some time to develop different repertoire and seek out new pieces for my 11-string. I hope to play some more concerts in 2012, and start thinking about a new album then too. I think my next album will be more eclectic than my first, with some 21st century music as well as some early music. I’d love to record something very dark, like Dowland or one of the Weiss Tombeaus. And I also want to record my version of Mertz’s Fantasie Hongroise, which was originally written for 10 string guitar with a low A. I can play it with all the original bass notes on the archguitar, and it’s quite a different experience hearing it that way. So that’s a bit of what’s to come.

CG.org: Thanks so much for your time and your insightful responses, Jon. All the best to your multiple endeavors!

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Charles Mokotoff, Part two
2. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, Part 1
3. An Interview with Michael Chapdelaine

An Interview with Jon Mendle from Classical Guitar

Ricardo Iznaola

Ricardo Iznaola is famous today for his work in the field of guitar pedagogy. He’s the chair of the guitar and harp department at the University of Denver, and is the author of Kitharologus: the Path to Virtuosity and several other books which should be on every guitarist’s shelf. As if that weren’t enough, Mr. Iznaola is a recording artist, composer, and teaches at a prestigious summer music festival. Ricardo Iznaola is one of very few true scholars and great thinkers in the guitar world today, and I hope you get as much out of this interview as I did.

Classical Guitar Blog: When did you get started on the guitar?

Ricardo Iznaola: In Colombia, after my family left Cuba in 1960, I got interested in the instrument, and began doodling on my own, without teachers, for quite a while. In ’61 we moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where I continued like this for about 3 more years, when in 1964 I finally entered music school. I was not a very disciplined student, so I dropped out in the summer of ’64 and did not go back, more mature and with a clearer perspective, until the Fall of 1966, after I had attended the life-changing summer course offered by the great Alirio Diaz at the university. This experience clarified my goals and purpose as a guitarist. I finished the academic program in two years and in ’68 went to Madrid to study privately under Regino Sainz de la Maza, while attending the Madrid Royal Conservatory for theory and composition studies.

CGB: As your career goals began to take shape, did you envision yourself becoming a well known pedagogue? When did that start to take shape?

Ricardo Iznaola: My initial career goals were, of course, that of a traveling concert artist, and, in fact, I was encouraged by my early successes in both competitions and the stage. By my mid-twenties I had won half a dozen awards, recorded four LP’s and had toured consistently in both Europe and some countries in Latin-America. Simultaneously, I had started teaching quite early, and in fact Sainz de la Maza made me kind of an unofficial assistant from around 1971 on, sending me students that he would not take into his studio, so I gained early a lot of experience. But teaching and thinking about teaching are two different things. The latter began in earnest when my experiences as player and with students began to open up questions in my mind about methodology, the rather traditionalist approach followed by lots of colleagues, and the lack of a truly scientific foundation to guitar pedagogy, which relied to a great extent on a rather mystical conception of so-called ‘talent’. By the mid ‘70’s there were important additions to the pedagogical canon, with books like Carlevaro’s School of Guitar, and the early Shearer books, as well as the example of players like John Williams, who brought a new standard to guitar playing. I then began the first of several revisions of my own playing approach, which led to quite a few changes in both my playing and my teaching. The next phase began with my move to the United States, in 1980, where I began to design my technique book, Kitharologus. I had it basically finished by the time I was appointed to the faculty of the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, in 1984, and began to incorporate those materials into my teaching. I also began a very serious and dedicated study of the pre-technical aspects of playing, that is to say, functional anatomy, psychological factors in training and performance, etc. Out of this process, a second revision began to happen in which gradually I transformed many aspects of both my approach to playing and teaching. I became more aware of Aaron Shearer’s approach, and, in fact, I acknowledge him as a major influence at this point. Of course, none of this was related to my wanting to be a well-known teacher or player, it came out of my own, and my students’, need for better and more productive approaches. A third branch of my musical path, composition, also developed quite early, although I did not pursue it with professional intent until much later. These facets have all coalesced and been helped by my move to the USA and my appointment as faculty at DU.

CGB: What do you think made Kitharologus such a success?

Ricardo Iznaola: The fact that it is NOT a method, but rather a collection of materials for physical training on the guitar organized in a cyclical and gradually advancing fashion, without pre-ordained instructions (except very general and vague ones) on how to do the exercises. This meant that teachers and students of all persuasions could use the material with benefit, applying their own way of doing things, which is in fact what has happened.

Another factor has been the charts for training suggested at the end of the book. In them, the students find a distributed organization of practice schedules for each level (there are 9), so that they can follow the chart for each of the three daily routines recommended. The system, when implemented well, works very well, in my experience and that of many others.

CGB: Do you use the book with your students?

Ricardo Iznaola: Yes, I do, but I tend to be rather non-exclusive, so what I try is to indirectly motivate them to do consistent and persistent pre-technical, physical conditioning work on the instrument (which is what Kitharologus tries to provide), no matter where they find the materials, so I encourage them to use not only my book, but Scott Tenant’s Pumping Nylon, Carlevaro’s exercise books, Shearer’s books, Giuliani, Pepe Romero, as well as the more traditional methods, particularly Aguado and Pujol. There’s lots of good in all of them. However, I do test my students once a quarter specifically on my book.

CGB: What do you look for in a student?

Ricardo Iznaola: I look for dedication that can be defined as passionate, no matter if levels of achievement are not what, normally, one would consider advisable for the age of the student. Of course, admission to a professional program in music, as we offer at both undergraduate and graduate levels at Lamont, is rather stringent in requirements and expected expertise, but I try to help both the highly proficient and the less experienced, but full of potential, to the degree that institutional resources allow. In my view, which I have discussed in detail in a number of articles, the undue importance given by the musical profession to the mysterious, almost magical, concept of ‘innate talent’ is, in effect, an easy way out to justify pedagogical failure, when the teacher cannot find appropriate ways to bring a student up to their true but frequently hidden potential. I have had both enormous success and failure with this approach, which is primarily an ethical stance, but one that is gaining growing validation by new discoveries in cognitive science and neurology. In a word, I have committed myself, as a teacher, to the conviction that talent is present in all those who show true passion for the art form, although not all of them have equally unimpeded access to their talents. Some people need extra help unburdening, discovering or, as I have described it elsewhere, ‘unleashing’ their talent. In these cases, talent becomes a function of method. When we don’t achieve the goal of ‘unleashing’ the student’s ‘talent’, I try to find the fault in my methods, rather than using the abhorrent escape-route of blaming the student for his or her ‘lack of talent’. In other words, I have found it much more productive, pedagogically, and morally less repugnant to reject the notion of talent as an unexplained and unfairly distributed ‘gift’ from the gods. This posture, nonetheless, sometimes enter into conflict with the rather rigid institutional time-lines normative for the bachelor’s, master’s or diploma programs, so a rather interesting tug-of-war situation arises in cases where the student’s growth as a practitioner of the art does not fit comfortably with the required four-year or two-year standards to obtain a bachelor’s or master’s degree. As in growing a flower garden, individual growth curves for different flowers need to be respected by the gardener. Teaching a highly complex, integrative function like music performance is very similar, in this context, to gardening. As we all know, though, educational institutions are not gardens.

CGB: You studied with Regino Sainz de la Maza, are there any memories that stand out from that time?

Ricardo Iznaola: Many, some good, some bad. Regino was a true child of his times, with all the grandeur and foibles of the grand masters of the era. As with all his prominent contemporaries, he demanded that students prove themselves before they, the teachers, would deign to actually teach and help the student. In general terms, the pedagogical methods of those times were punitive, authoritarian and dogmatic, and Regino was not free from these traits. However, he was a superb musician and an innovative and advanced technical thinker of the guitar, a fact many people ignore, because frequently his public performances left something to be desired, given his known problems with nerves.

CGB: Any lessons you still use every day?

Ricardo Iznaola: His insistence on rhythmic accuracy, the structural role of accents (“the skeleton of music”, as he described it), the concept of fluidity as a major defining characteristic of great technique, the preoccupation with dysfunctional tension, as well as a number of concrete exercises, some of them incorporated within the frame of my Kitharologus, have all stayed with me, and I try to pass them on to my students. However, I’m afraid that if he saw me play today, he would not recognize my current technical approach, particularly in the right-hand, as something derived from his.

CGB: What’s on your plate right now?

Ricardo Iznaola: Perhaps worthy of mention is two recent CD releases, one an anthological collection of Venezuelan music, a 2-CD set with works from Borges, Sojo, Plaza, Lauro, Riera, to those of younger masters. I included also two versions of the legendary Sonata by Lauro, one made for this recording, and the world-premiere recording, which I did in 1970. The difference between the two versions is immense!

The other is another 2-CD set, with Franz Schubert’s immortal song-cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey) in my arrangement for voice and guitar. I had the privilege to work with the great American basso Kenneth Cox, my colleague at the Lamont School of Music. Both releases are from my label IGW, Iznaola Guitar Works, available through our website or through CDBaby and other outlets.

On the compositional front, the recent premiere of my Trio Classico, for flute, viola and guitar, written for a new, stellar group from Colorado, the Lefthand Canyon Trio, with musicians Christina Jennings on flute, Matt Dane on viola and Jonathan Leathwood, a protégé and colleague also, on guitar. There are a number of new projects waiting for available time, including a possible triple concerto for this trio.

I am also starting a collaboration with the great Venezuelan violinist and conductor Eddy Marcano, including both performances and recordings. Also, I am scheduled to do the world-premiere recording of Canto XIX, written for me by the eminent American composer Samuel Adler, who is putting all of his Cantos for string instruments on CD this Spring. Of course, there are solo, chamber and orchestral performances lined up for the rest of this season, too tedious to enumerate. I do want to mention my work at the very inspiring and top-quality Bowdoin International Summer Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine, where I have been an artist-faculty for the last ten years. I will be there from July 16 through August 6, teaching lessons, coaching chamber music and performing with distinguished colleagues. The guitar program is quite selective (we accept only four students) but rich in activities and performance opportunities for those admitted, both as soloists and chamber musicians. The festival is housed in the beautiful campus of Bowdoin College, and students and faculty have the opportunity to perform in the lovely Studzinsky music hall, a state-of-the art, resonant but transparent venue.

CGB: When’s the next book coming out?

Ricardo Iznaola: You may be aware that I have been working, for quite some time, on a comprehensive text on guitar playing, tentatively titled Summa Kitharologica. This was planned to be a study of the art of guitar playing from analytical, interpretive and performance viewpoints. I don’t know if this is what will happen, in the long run, because I have come to realize that my pedagogical works are, in fact, conceived in a systematic way, so that they, as a whole, constitute a ‘summa’, in the classic meaning or the term. There is an obvious thread uniting my little booklet On Practicing with Kitharologus, which has its foundation on the anatomo-physiological elements studied in my Physiology of Guitar Playing. Additionally, I have published a very extensive and comprehensive monograph on left-hand technique, titled Left-Hand Technique and the Limits of the Possible, which appeared in the inaugural issue of the UK journal Guitar Forum, and I am currently engaged in an equally developed monograph on right-hand technique, in which I delve into the functional anatomy and mechanics of the right limb, while presenting a full description, with numerous examples, of my positional framing theory. These two pieces provide the theoretical framework, the ‘behind-the-scenes’ thinking for the materials presented in Kitharologus. All of this, of course, is, in fact, continuation and further contribution to the all-encompassing concept of Summa Kitharologica, a project that, alas, might end up being a posthumous achievement!

CGB: What guitar and strings are you currently using?

Ricardo Iznaola:I have two guitars I use for different purposes, both very different but both splendid: a cedar-top John Price, built in 2002, and a spruce-top Andrea Tacchi, built in 2003. I also have a lovely Robert Ruck from 1995. I use D’Addario composite basses with either D’Addario or Augustine Imperial or Regal trebles.

CGB: Any tips for guitarists?

Ricardo Iznaola: Just to listen. As a musician, one is only as good as one hears. In practicing, the most common problem I find in students is the distortion in their listening due to impatience, playing too much, and, therefore, cramming. One needs a lot of time to find quality, and this requires a pace of work in which calm observation of what one is doing is an indispensable step. Other than that, and in more general terms, my only advice would be to enhance your curiosity, your appetite for, first, finding intriguing questions about anything and everything you or anyone else does, and, second, engaging in the purposeful process of discovering answers that, although hinted at by others, are, at the end of the day, only productive if they become your answers, your discoveries. Do not follow fads, dogmas or ‘schools’ to the point you disqualify your own thinking or creativity. After all, great art is always the product of a unique personality offering a unique, powerfully engaging perspective on the world we all share.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

An Interview with Ricardo Iznaola from Classical Guitar

Adam Holzman on…

• When he got started on the guitar.
• What it was like studying with his older brother, Bruce Holzman.
• How the Aspen festival shaped him into the guitarist and teacher his is today.
• Whether or not there are any festivals out there than recreate the same intense environment of Aspen.
• recording for Naxos

Adam Holzman on…

• What he looks for in a student.
• Why UT Austin became the high level guitar program it is today.
• His current concert guitar and strings.
• Tips for guitarists.
• Upcoming projects.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

Adam Holzman Interview from Classical Guitar

Yet for all his accomplishments, John Williams has his detractors. People say he’s unmusical and all technique. In any case, there’s always something to learn from a performer like Williams. He’s been a professional musician for the past 50 years, and anyone with that kind of experience is worth listening to a little bit.

Since I’ll probably never get the change to interview Mr. Williams, let me point in the direction of some other interviews with him.

Text Interviews with John Williams

Classical Guitar Alive did an interview with John Williams is 1998. This was right after Williams released The Guitarist (aff.), so there is quite a bit of talk about the album and Williams’ outing as a composer (he recorded one of his own pieces for the album).

Next up is an interview with Williams by Austin Prichard-Levy. This interview is more broad in its reach and scope of topics. Williams discusses such things as competitions, whether or the guitar is hard to learn, and his switch to Smallman guitars.

Additionally, John Williams has appeared numerous times in Classical Guitar Magazine. February 1985, January 1990, May 1996, and September 2009 are all issues where John Williams was on the cover. If you’re interested, back issues of Classical Guitar Magazine are available from FretsOnly.com. (I’m really not sure why magazines don’t sell digital copies of their back issues.)

Video Interviews with John Williams

First up is a modern interview with Williams from a documentary (titles welcome, I haven’t been able to figure it out).

Next up is a documentary exclusively about Williams. It’s in six parts on youtube, only the first is embedded here. This one is very interesting because of how in depth it is. In part two there are shots of Williams visiting Greg Smallman’s shop/house, which is fascinating — it seems like Smallman is some mythical figure now-a-days. This is taken from The Seville Concert DVD (aff).

Below is a very old interview with a very young John Williams. Again, this is in multiple parts, only the first is embedded here.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

John Williams Interviews from Classical Guitar

Denis Azabagic on…

• How he got started learning guitar.
• When the Cavatina Duo got started and how much of Denis’ time goes into duo engagements.
• What sort of influences playing with a flutist has on his solo playing.
• Ensembles that the Cavatina Duo is planning to collaborate with in the future.

Denis Azabagic on…

• About the guitar scene in Chicago.
• Tips for guitarists heading into competitions.
• What instrument and strings Denis uses.
• Why he just ordered a Stephen Connor guitar.
• About the Cavatina Duo’s latest projects.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

Denis Azabagic Interview from Classical Guitar

This interview focused mainly on the business side of music because Matt is such a wellspring of information about that world. He talks about the ACGS history and what factors were crucial in growing the organization to what it is today. Additionally, the last video has some tips for guitarists about professionalism and marketing from a promoters perspective.

Dr. Hinsley just released a book with much more detailed advice on building a small- to medium-sized arts non-profit. The book, Creativity to Community: Arts Nonprofit Success One Coffee at a Time, is available on Lulu in hardcover or ebook format. Additionally, Matt has published a guitar method for children.

Part 1

• When Dr. Hinsley got started playing guitar.
• How he came to live in Austin, TX.
• A brief history of the Austin Classical Guitar Society.
• How the ACGS made the leap to a big, community oriented organization.

Part 2

• Balancing performing/teaching and being an arts administrator.
• How the ACGS guitar curriculum came about.

Part 3

• Advice about starting a non-profit arts organization.
• About Matt’s new book.
• Advice for guitarists.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

An Interview with Matthew Hinsley from Classical Guitar

Part 1

• When and how Johannes got started on the guitar
• How previous competition experience helped prepare him for the 2010 GFA win
• How the GFA win changed Johannes professionally and as a performer

Part 2

• On composing
• How being a composer changes the way you look at music

Part 3

• Tips for guitarists

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

An Interview with Johannes Möller from Classical Guitar

Part One

• How they got together as a duo
• The repertoire SoloDuo performs and how they choose it
• Their latest program of all transcriptions and if the two plan on doing any transcribing of their own

Part Two

• How they work develop an interpretation as a duo
• Tips for developing interpretive skills

Part Three

• Using Analysis for interpretation
• Tips for guitarists
• About their latest CD and upcoming projects

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

An Interview with SoloDuo from Classical Guitar

In the first he discusses the benefits of practicing less. As you know, practicing efficiently is covered a lot on the CG Blog. It’s great to hear other guitarists saying the same things.

The second video covers the importance of posture and breathing for guitarists, and it’s a good reminder. The final video is about making musical decisions. The most important advice you’ll ever get about interpretation: “I try to make most of my musical decisions without the guitar.”

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

William Kanengiser on Practicing Less, Posture, and Interpretation from Classical Guitar

Marco Sartor

At the beginning of last summer, I saw Marco Sartor in concert. It was great, and I wanted to let everyone know about him. Marco just released his debut CD title Red, it’s available at Amazon and directly from the record label. Marco is also featured on this album of Gnattali solo & chamber for guitar.

Marco Sartor on…

• When he got started playing guitar, and what sort of things came first
• How the guitar world differs in Uruguay
• What sort of repertoire he plays and tours with
• His new CD
• What his typical practice day is like
• How long it takes to learn a piece
• Tips for guitarists

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Kevin Callahan, part 2
2. An Interview with Eva Fampas, part 2
3. An Interview with Luthier John H. Dick

Marco Sartor Interview from Classical Guitar