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Better Sight-Reading On The Guitar
Just the mention of sight-reading causes most guitarists to squirm in their seats or look for the nearest exit. There’s an old joke about what you call two guitarists sight-reading the same line of music. The answer…polyphony. For classical or jazz guitarists, sight-reading notation is essential. For the rock and blues guitarist, not so much.…
My Story Part 1: Escaping The Choir
Being a guitar teacher was never in my plan book for life growing up. As a matter of fact, it was the furthest thing from my plans. But it is the road I have traveled for almost 20 years. I grew up the son of, what Southern Baptists call, a minister of music. This puts…
Guitar Habits And Developing Routines
One question every guitar teacher hates is, “how long until I’m good at playing the guitar?” Giving a timeframe for learning the physical and mental complexities cannot be predicted more than when one might breathe their last breath. This holds true for learning a difficult piece like Recuerdos de la Alhambra or successfully landing a…
Preparing To Learn A Piece For Guitar
The repertoire for the guitar is endless. Most guitarists, including professionals, give little thought to the process of learning a piece of music. But, if frustration and slow progress are to be lessened, then there needs to be an understanding of preparing to learn a piece for guitar. Learning About Preparing To Learn My first…
Fatigue And Recovery On The Guitar
Have you ever had a few days off from practicing only to return feeling like you could play everything you’re working on flawlessly that day? But the following day the exact opposite happens. You feel like throwing the guitar out the window. Your hands feel slow, your mind feels slow, and nothing seems to connect.…
Klangbild 5 by Carlo Domeniconi
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the composer of Klangbild 5 is Carlo Domeniconi. A much-loved composer for the classical guitar. As you can probably tell by his name, he is an Italian born in 1947 (the same year of my own father) in Cesena, Italy. He has two degrees, one from the Pesaro Conservatory and…
Klangbild 11 by Carlo Domeniconi
The composer of Klangbild 11 is Carlo Domeniconi. A much-loved composer for the classical guitar. As you can probably tell by his name, he is an Italian born in 1947 (the same year of my own father) in Cesena, Italy. He has two degrees, one from the Pesaro Conservatory and another from Erich Bürger. His…
Torito by Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon
As mentioned in a previous post, I believe the composer of Torito, Jamie Mirtenbaum Zenamon, is not a common name in most classical guitar circles. He wasn’t in mine until finding this piece in the Royal Conservatory collection. Born in Bolivia to European parents, he studied guitar and composition in Israel, Spain, Portugal, and various…
Carulli Waltz (Op. 241, No. 1)
If you have ever even looked at a collection of classical guitar music, then chances are almost at 100% that you’ve encountered Ferdinando Carulli. He was an Italian composer, performer, and author of the influential Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre, op. 27 (1810)[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinando_Carulli. His total number of opuses is 336[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Ferdinando_Carulli! That’s a lot of…
Land of the Silver Birch arr. by Peter Hudson
As mentioned in a previous post, I have done a few searches for Peter Hudson and haven’t turned up anything about him as a composer or player. I know that he has done a number of arrangements for the Royal Conservatory series. This leads me to believe he is a native of Canada and works…