Some weeks ago I have discovered the NewMusicBox site when they published the Juilliard Commencement Speech of John Adams
NewMusicBox, a multimedia publication from the American Music Center, is dedicated to the music of American composers and improvisers and their champions. NewMusicBox offers: in-depth profiles, articles, and discussions; up-to-the-minute industry news and commentary; a direct portal to our internet radio station, Counterstream; and access to an online library of more than 57,000 works by more than 6,000 composers.
When I looked through this site I found that this is a very interesting resource for guitarists too. Especialy I have found the transcript of a roundtable with five American guitarists who talked about learning, playing and composing for the guitar and some aspects of its literature.
The topics in detail were:
- Getting an Education
- Good Time to be a Guitarist
- Acoustic vs. Electric
- Performer – Composer
- Working with other Composers
You can find this transcription here: Worth Fretting Over
Guitar roundtable with James Emery, Dominic Frasca, Stephen Griesgraber, David Leisner, David Starobin, Mark Stewart
I have selected two short quotes form the transcription of this roundtable.
DAVID STAROBIN about his lessons with Bernard Goldschmidt:
That’s really a coincidence, I also had a teacher in the Cleveland Orchestra—the principal second violinist Bernard Goldschmidt used to give me lessons one summer when I was thirteen at the Allegany Music Festival. I remember him because I played the Villa Lobos Third Prelude. In the middle section there is a very sort of typical rubato that guitarists have always adopted. It’s very dumb rubato that basically feels good on the instrument. He couldn’t understand this. He said, “What are you doing that for?” And I said, “Well, you know, my hands just do it.” [everyone laughs] So he really nailed me. It was great for a thirteen-year-old kid to learn a really great lesson in phrasing because, you know, I have to think about why this note goes to the other note. It was one of the first times that I really found a musician who said think about what you’re doing, don’t just play it because you heard it that way.
Playlist with some versions of the 3rd. Prelude by Heitor Villa_lobos
Another interesting quote from David Leisner about the importance of ensemble playing:
DAVID LEISNER: Which is really why it’s up to the educators to bring more and more chamber music into the education of guitarists. I think it’s absolutely essential. It also happens to help the solo playing tremendously. You improve your rhythm, you improve your awareness, all kinds of things. We don’t play with orchestras, we certainly haven’t played much chamber music until recent times, so guitarists are stuck in a little corner with their terrible habits and if they play any chamber music at all it tends to be guitar ensemble—you know, where they put together other guitarists with equally horrid habits, and they’re not forced out in to the big world of music with the fiddle players, and the cello players, and the wind players, and the singers, and that’s what really expands a guitarist’s horizon. The more that that’s done the less that this sort of thing that we’re talking about will happen.
Playlist David Leisner – Dances in the Madhouse for Flute and Guitar
From David Leisners homepage about this composition for flute and guitar:
Dances in the Madhouse (12’) for violin/flute and guitar, 1982 – now considered a classic of the repertoire, a dance suite with Tango Solitaire, Waltz for the Old Folks, Ballad for the Lonely and Samba!, inspired by a lithograph by early 20th-century American George Bellows, depicting a social dance in an insane asylum – Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.
Additional Information
Homepage James Emery: http://www.james-emery.com/
Wikipedia about Dominic Frasca: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Frasca
Homepage Dominic Frasca: http://www.dominicfrasca.com/
Homepage David Leisner: http://www.davidleisner.com/
Wikipedia about David Starobin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starobin
Wikipedia about Mark Stewart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Stewart_%28guitarist%29
More articles about the guitar on NewMusicBox: http://www.newmusicbox.org/?s=guitar