Bream meets Stravinsky

Guitar Related Links

Yesterday was Igor Stravinsky’s birthday. Discovered this video thanks to @GuitaristDotCom. Be sure to check out John’s guitar blog as well.

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Micro-Practice for Big Results

Classical Guitar Practice Tips

We’re all busy. Sometimes work an life get in the way of guitar practice. Sometimes we need more results with less time.

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Faking It

Guitar Performance Tips

Earlier last semester I went a concert which included Massiaen’s Quartet For The End Of Time. The performance was okay, but the one thing I remember very clearly, beyond anything the performers did, was the looks on their faces. None of them looked as if they wanted to be there–from walk out to final bow. […]

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I also think that everybody has some kind of talent, some little piece of divinity that is his or hers alone. Too often, though, this talent is hidden, undiscovered, or squelched by people with influence who denigrate that talent as not being marketable. At the risk of sounding cheerleaderish, you have talent; you have artistry […]

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Linkage: 6/12/09

Guitar Related Links

Because I can’t write a links post without linked to Derek Sivers, he recently wrote a post with a story from Seth Godin about qaunity plus learning. We get really focused on quality, but to learn to produce quality, perhaps it’s necessary to do more first. Contrast that with

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Music Appreciation

Classical Guitar Tips

Many people take music appreciation courses in college. The teacher force-feeds the students classical music, and plays various pieces. They give required listening, and give tests based on knowing terms and “dropping the needle” at a given point of a piece, expecting students to know the piece and things about it. Is that music appreciation? […]

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Practice Techniques: Stop/Go

Guitar Practice Techniques

This is a great method for nailing left hand events. A left hand event can be anything. It could be a big shift or an awkward jump or something that requires a change of hand position. A LH event is just something that gives you trouble. The name pretty much explains it all. Play something, […]

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Mental Music Practice

Guitar Practice Techniques

Mental Practice. Visualization. Both terms that describe practice away from the instrument. In my own experience, Mental practice has been an effective way to enhance memorization and feel much more secure with any piece. This post is a research review. While this is a subject I’m very interested in, the shear amount of research is […]

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Classical Guitar and Fingernails

Classical Guitar Fingernails

Had a question of Kier over at Street Musician about fingernails. I thought I would put a response up here! My Mrs. really hates long fingernails and has totally forbidden me to grow the sort of set you see proper classical guitarists sporting. I can finger pick reasonably well on the acoustic, but will I […]

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“I feel there’s something almost unfair about trying to teach a skill by putting it into words. We learn so much more when we learn through our senses and our experience.” -Barry Green As I was search for videos of guitarist Craig Ogden I came across this great video of Ogden and countertenor David Daniels. […]

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