Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion from TED

If you are familiar with TED and the remarkable presentations that are given at the conferences.  This talk is a wonderful talk by Benjamin Zander is worth every second you spend watching it.  It will change your view of classical music and how you feel about it.  For those who are musically inclined, this is the short version of Schenkarian analysis.

Irina Kulikova's Naxos Guitar Recital

Russian born Irina Kulikova's new recital album is full of some new surprises and some familiar faces. As with many of the albums that are presented to us from Naxos, this one presents a recital. Therefore, as a listener, one should feel obliged to sit and listen to the album as a whole. Maybe take an "intermission" between the Sor and the Castelnuovo-Tedesco only to return to let your ears and soul absorb the final masterpieces.

As you sit and let the recital begin, you'll notice the familiar sound of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. However, it might sound a bit strange upon first appearance. This is due to Kulikova arranging the piece in its original key of G major. This is a wonderful change that anyone who loves the piece on cello would appreciate. Most of us are used to hearing arrangements in the key of D major. The G major originality actually gives the listener a new emotional understanding of Bach's intentions. My ears were delighted with the playfulness of the Courante and the sweetness the Kulikova plays the Sarabande. The Gigue's dance like interpretation truly moved my body to want to dance.

From the Bach the recital gives a turn to another familiar face but unfamiliar song. I don't believe that many guitarists are familiar with Sor' Fantasia No. 7. I can say that I am not. This is what makes this album such a "must have" for me. I have no recordings in my library of this piece and Kulikova's playing makes it that much more compelling. I initially was struck by the Allegretto and Kulikova's control of dynamics and mood throughout.

After you have gotten another cup of coffee for intermission, then it's time to return for a little Castelnuovo-Tedesco. I believe that most guitarists have a "love/hate" relationship with his music. Most of this comes from his ability to push our musical limits in a tonal form. He tends to make us listen to pieces many times before our appreciation begins to rise. But, when it does, there is no turning back. This is true in this piece as well. As I listen to the recital, as a recital, it is the one that challenges my musical understanding the most. The "Tempo di menuetto" has such an interesting use of melodic and rhythmic themes that I need many more listens to absorb through it. Upon first listen, the "Vivo ed energico" feels like a mix of Boccherini and Villa-Lobos.

Now we come to the beginning of the ending for this recital. The feel of Broadway encompasses the "California Sweet" and presents a sweet musical story. You really feel that each of the cadence points have the feel of Bernstein. There is definitely a story to be discovered here, but not one that you will have to think to hard to find.

Many performers will tell you that it is important to leave a familiar taste in the audiences mouth as an encore. I believe that this is the attempt with the "Recuerdos de la Alhambra." The tremolo is a little more staccato in nature than other performances. I assume this is intended by Kulikova but has an interesting effect on my ears. However, gives the listener a nice comforting conclusion. At some point, this recital should make it into your library.

Within this highly varied selection of original compositions and transcriptions we move from Bach’s masterful First Cello Suite transcribed by Irina Kulikova, to Fernando Sor’s Fantaisie, an ingeniously structured work that is vital and energetic yet at times intimate. Francisco Tárrega’s imperishable masterpiece of tremolo conjures up the Alhambra, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonata, written for his friend Segovia, is a witty homage to Boccherini, while Baroque and Broadway are the motors for California Suite by José María Gallardo del Rey. Irina Kulikova is one of the world’s most gifted young guitarists, a multiple prize winner and international performer.

~Naxos

Click Here to Purchase From Amazon: Irina Kulikova: Guitar Recital

Click Here to Purchase from iTunes

[reprinted by permission from www.chadbecks.com]

Step Back, Slow Down, and Play Better Guitar

When working on new pieces we many times want to get to the end before we even begin.  I am as guilty as anyone at trying to get to the end of a piece, but we in doing so we sacrifice much more than time.  We sacrifice ease of movement and exactness of execution the most.

When you find yourself beginning to rush a piece, take a step back and slow things down.  Play through the sections that you know but focus only on the pressure it takes you to play each note.  This will allow you to truly focus on your hand movements.  You might also find that you do not know the piece as well as you thought you did.  When slowing things down you'll find that your concentration must increase.  This is a wonderful bi-product and will only benefit you when it comes time to perform the piece in front of others.

It may take days or weeks before you truly begin to feel ease of movement after slowing things down.  At this point you'll begin to move the piece to higher tempos.  That's the time you need to slow it down again. Force yourself to take another step back and truly "feel" how your hands are playing.  Every note, every nuance, every movement must be easy before you can truly feel confident that every performance will yield the desired result.

3 Habits to Change in Your Practicing

We all have habits.  As a matter of fact, we tend to talk a lot about habits when it comes to the classical guitar.  However, many times we overlook the actual habits in our practice that do not concern the physical act of playing.  So with that said, let's change 3 habits that might be hindering your growth on the guitar.

1. Get a good night's sleep.  It is difficult to focus on the guitar when our minds are not fresh.  We like to think that burning the candle late at night means we are getting our "time" in on the guitar.  But in reality it is actually counter-productive time.  The more you can focus the better quality practice you'll enjoy.
2. Eat a healthy diet.  Seems strange to say this as a guitarist, but it is true even for us.  A health diet will strengthen your nails and keep you focus for longer.  When you eat that huge bean burrito before practicing and don't think that the rumbling in your stomach is affecting you, then you're out to lunch.  Playing the guitar takes a lot of sitting.  Weighing yourself down with heavy foods before and during practice isn't good for you no matter how you look at it.
3. Try to pick the same time every day for practice.  Our bodies learn by habit.  If you can pick the same time every day to practice, then you will be training your body to practice at that time.  It will begin to recognize that it needs to get into a certain mode and mood to get the most out of the time allotted.

I guarantee that these habit changes will only be for the better of your guitar playing.  We lose sight of how everything we do during the day affects our playing.  It's time to take some of it into consideration and make our playing that much more productive.

Let's Learn about Luis Milán

Most classical guitarist will play Milán's music at some point in our musical journey.  Many times however, we fail to at least find out a little information concerning the person's music we are playing.  Though Wikipedia is not a scholarly reference, I beleive it will at least give a beginning understanding of the man we all love to play.

Luis de Milán (also known as Lluís del Milà) (c. 1500 – 1561 or possibly later) was a Spanish Renaissance composer, vihuelist (instrument similar to the guitar), and writer on music. He was the first composer in history to publish music for the vihuela de mano, an instrument employed primarily in the Iberian peninsula and some of the Italian states during the 15th and 16th centuries, and he was also one of the first musicians to specify verbal tempo indications in his music.
Frontispiece to Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro

Rotenburg Guitar Week Begins July 17th

The Rotenburg Guitar week begins July 17th and ends on July 24th this year.  It looks like it will be packed again with quite a few notable teachers.  Individual instruction will be given by Raphaëlla Smits, Thomas Müller-Pering, Dirk Lemmermann and Hans Wilhelm Kaufmann, and others.

Apparently you get your choice of either either 3 lessons (standard) or 6 lessons (intensive) though I am not sure how it works.  Also available is multiple lessons with one instructor of your choice.  Again, the site is unclear on the order of things.  Maybe I am just not reading things correctly.  No matter what you choose, your going to be studying guitar in a no doubt charmin north German countryside.

Carcassi is On My Mind - Op. 60 No. 3

This lovely little piece by Carcassi is one of the first classical guitar pieces I played when beginning my training.  It has a very sweet melody and has the feel of a lullaby.  The performance here is very enjoyable.