Moorish Dance by Aaron Shearer

Moorish Dance comes to us from the famous pedagogue Aaron Shearer. I was fortunate enough to study with Aaron while I was a student at Duquesne University. He would make a trip each semester to work with my teacher, Tom Kikta, and on his books. While at school, we would have weekly lessons with him for about a month. There is much the classical guitar world owes to him and you can read about it more on the Aaron Shear Foundation website.

Publications of Moorish Dance

This piece originally appeared (as far as I know) in his method book titled, Learning the Classic Guitar, Part 2. I do not believe there is a better order of instruction for the instrument than these three books he published. I do not agree with everything at this moment, however, the order of instruction is what I feel is the best available. The piece also appears in every edition of the Royal Conservatory Guitar Series that I have used including the current Preparatory Guitar Repertoire and Etudes 2018.

About The Piece

This piece falls in the Royal Conservatory level of Preparatory. Like many beginning guitar pieces, the key remains in A minor throughout. The thumb and fingers do not play simultaneously throughout. There is a logical rhythmic change between a quarter and eighth note measures. This allows beginning students to feel the relative length of each. I play it with free strokes but many beginners might find playing with rest strokes more appealing.

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.