Recuerdos De La Alhambra

I teach guitar at a store called Musicology. It's on State St in Wwatertown, NY. When I have a no show or a space in between lessons I use that time for practice. Lately another guitar teacher has been sitting in watching me play. The other day I played for him Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega. For what ever unexplained reason Iwasplaying the piece better than I have ever played it. I was amazing myself with it. Then, right at the end of it I got lost. I tried a couple times to come backto the forgotten measure of music. Then I a realized I just had to jump to the ending which I still feel I played better than ever. It was one of those special moments that occur from time to time with me and the guitar.

No Guitar Practice

I am visiting family near Cleveland Ohio. It is a seven hour drive from my home in Chaumont, NY. Foolishly I did not bring a guitar with me. It is driving me nuts that I have some down time and no guitar to play.

Ramirez 125 Anos Classical Guitar

The Better Half & I are visiting her framily in Cleveland, Ohio. mOn the drive there we stopped at Bernunzio's Uptown Music in Rochester, NY. They have a Ramirez 125 Anos spruce top guitar and a Ramirez 130 Anos cedar top guitar. I triede out the 125 and was impressed with the playability, the tone, the projection. A NICE instrument. The girl in the store asked me if I would like to try out the 130 for comparison. Well, I wanted to but my time was limited and theu had a used Marin guitar that I was more interested in. So I gave that some time. Then we had to get back on the road. That was yesterday morningt. I am now sitting in Ohio wishing I had treid out the 130. Damn. I am kicking myself. All I can think about is how much I liked the a25 anos and now I will not be able to rest until I get my hands on the 130. As for the Marin that cost $9,000.00 it didn't grab me. The neck felt a bit peculiar to me. I should also add that I was a bit timid in realling letting myself go and playing these guitars with unabashed passion. My fault. The Ramirez jumped out at me immediately. The Marin did not. However, I think if I gave the Marin enough time I could learn how to make it express what I would like. Anyhow, I just might be buying one of those Ramirez on the way home.

Learning Estudio Brillante by Francisco Tarrega

I have been practicing and trying to polish for performance Francisco Tarrega's guitar composition Estudio Brillante, sometimes known as Study in A. It is a

challenging piece of music. Memorizing it was fairly easy. BUT, the rest of it has been tough. I never dreamed it would be as difficult as it is. It is physically demanding. There are hammer ons & pull offs that require solid technique. Slowly the piece improves. The photos here show how I go about keeping a sort of "Practice Diary" I usually practice a chord change or scale passage or what ever in groups of five or ten. Then I write down that number in hash marks somewhere in the margins or cover of the music along with the date. I usually will do the particular task at hand for 100 repetitions. It is like a body builder who does a series of reps. For instance, I do a chord change 5 or 10 times and stop. Rest a few seconds and do 5 or ten more. Eventually I reach my goal of reps for that part of my practice session. Estudio Brillante has been unbelievable. My notes and record of reps has filled up the back cover and a good deal of the inside cover. Much of my notes would not mean anything to others unless I explained them. The bottom line is that the guitar, at least in my hands, requires constant repetition for me to finally master a phrase, lick, scale passage, chord change or what have you. Estudio Brillante is a long term project. For sure the most difficult piece I have attempted. Why do I do it? Because I love it. The first time I heard it I was smitten by it. I have had the music for over 20 years and only began learning it about 4 years ago. I have had it memorized for a long time, it's just getting it to performance level that has taken so long. For a long, long time my left hand & arm would become fatigued trying to play through it just one. Now I am more relaxed and can get through it 5, 6, maybe 7 times or more before I become that fatigued. Those of you out there who have worked on this compostion know what I mean. Christopher Parkening says the piece is "extremely difficult." I know now that he wasn't kidding.

Today's Practice:

The highlighted section in the above photos shows a segment that I practiced this morning for a total of 100 reps. It isn't difficult, but I am trying to reach a point where I make the chord change / position shift flawlessly and evenly every time, with no clicks, rattles, buzzes or string squeaks. This was "focused practice." You should zero in on something specific such as this when you practice. Slowly but surely it get better, your playing becomes stronger. The following photo is of the back cover that is filled up with my "Practice Diary" notations.

The following photo is a detail of the practice notes I have made in my copy of Tarrega's Estudio Brillante.

The music notation I have written is an exercise I created for the left han. The dates tells me how many times I executed that exercise on that given date. You can see that I worked at it on January 4, 2009,l January 5, 2009, February 2nd 2009. Oh, I also see January n16, 2009. The section of the song that I created ti=his exercise for is still giving me troube, and NO WONDER: I have not been practicing the exercise or the musical passage enough! So you can also see that these notes reminde me of that so I practiced it again on August 19, 2012. And so it goes.

Two More Pix of my Estudio Brillante Music "Diary"

Stage Fright

I got away from playing the guitar for people for well over 15 years. Mostly it was becaus my photography career took over. It was just as well because even though I love the music and the guitar, I was never comfortable with performing. The nervousness was terrible. Playing in a noisy bar or at a private party was one thing, even playing in a wedding ceremony wasn't too bad because the focus was not on me. Every time I got into a situation where I was the focus of attention the stage fright was horrible. I think back about performing in a Christopher Parkening master class in front of all the other student guitarists and I wonder how I ever got through it. This has always bothered me because I want to be in CONTROL of my thoughts and actions. I want to overcome stage fright, or "performance anxiety" which some call it. There are two key things in doing so. You must know your material and you must go out and perform as much as possible. In the past four years I have been re-learning my repertoire and putting myself out there playing in front of people again. Last December I played a gig at a musicians Christmas party. All eyes were on me as I played about a 20 minute set. I fumbled in the usual spots in some of the songs, played most of them OK. The listeners LOVED it. I got some really good feedback. However, I was a nervous wreck. I was sweating so much it flowed off my face and into my eyes with a burning sensation. Profuse sweating. I remember experiencing that years ago. On other occasions my hands would shake. Sometimes both would occur. Three Summers ago I played an outdoor lunchtime concert in down town Watertown. I thought people would be sitting around eating their lunch and chatting. I was not prepared for what I got: Everyone sitting quietly, hanging on every note I played. My mind was racing with ways I could excuse myself and flee. The worst part of it was I had to fill up two whole hours! Yikes. But I got through it. Each time gets a little better.

Sor Study #2 Played by Me at Depauville Library August 15, 2012

Anyhow, last Wednesday I played a recital type situation at the library in Depauville, NY. There were about 25 people there. One of the things I did was introduce myself to folks as they arrived and mingled a bit before the show. That was a big help. Then when it was time for the show I stood before the audience and formally inroduced myself and talked a few minutes. I was 100% relaxed, feeling GOOD, comfortable with the situation. They settled down, I sat down with the guitar and formed an A major chord to start a fairly easy etude by Matteo Carcassi. At that moment my mouth went dry. My mind went off somewhere and I couldn't remember what I was about to play. So I said something to the audience, my hands began to tremble, and I proceeded to play an alternate piece (also by Carcassi). Mentally I more or less tried to downplay the anxiety. The shaking hands were not anyway near as bad as when that would happen in the past, and, I managed to not break out into a sweat. Overall the show went well but I simply abandoned some of the pieces I was going to play, I had a few memory lapses, and I fumbled in, once again, some of the same spots in the same pieces that I frequently fumble. That means I must still work on those segments. Some selections I played well and was pleased with how I performed the. Romance was one of them. Lagrima by Francisco tarrega and three other Tarrega etudes came off especially well. I fumbled a spot in Carcassi study #19 that I thought I had down so well i would never fumble it again. That's what is confounding. Playing something well dozens or hundreds of times and then suddenly fumble it or simply have an unexplainable memory lapse. It's akin to singers forgetting song lyrics. Anyhow, I plan to keep at it and learn how to master the stage, stage fright, and gain command of the audience. The Better Half doesn't understand why I want to do that. But it's simple: I want to be in control of myself, not let my emotions and situations control me.

---

Gary Walts Classical Guitarist to Perform at Depauville Library

On Wednesday I'll be doing a guitar recital at the Depauville library. The following is a promo piece I created for the event.

Gary Walts will be playing at Depauville Free Library on Wednesday, August 15, beginning at noon. The lunchtime performance will be reminiscent of afternoons at Teaism, the Clayton vegetarian, outdoor café, where Gary played weekly. Musical selections will include guitar etudes by Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853), Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909), and some modern classics by the Beatles. To evoke the ambiance of Teaism beyond the soothing sound of Gary Walts’ guitar, creamy cilantro soup and Moroccan mint iced tea will be served. Please call the Depauville Library at 686-3299 for reservations or further information.

Fishman Soloamp & Guild Mark V Guitar

Yesterday I played guitar at a wine tasting/art show that took place at Carthage Federal Savings & Loan, a bank in Carthage, N.Y. I used a Guild Mark V classical guitar that I bought new in 1984. Many years ago I had a piezo electric pick up installed in it. A couple years ago I bought a Fishman Soloamp 220 which I use at gigs like the one at the bank. There were probably a hundred people there at the height of the event which ran from 5:00 to 7:00. After the first hour my playing seemed to me to have improved. I took a short break and mingled with the folks and got some positive feed back. In parrticular the two organizers of the event were p-leased with what I had to offer. A local radio personality was in attendence and spoke to me briefly. He really liked the music I played and was particularly pleased with Blue Moon. "I loved your arrangement of Bluse Moon!" he said. He went on to tell me what a favorite song of his it is and how he has recordings of many different arrangements of it. The one that I play was arranged by Laurindo Almeida. After Blue Moon I went directly in to Almeida's arrangement of Lara's Theme, better known as Somwhere My Love, the theme song from the movie Dr. Zchivago. The radio man then said " Then you played Lara's Theme and, OH!" he clasped his hands together, placed them over his heart, leaned a bit backward, his head pointed toward the cieling, his rolled dreamily, "It was Heavenly." A couple of other folks mentioned how much the enjoyed Blue Moon also. Near the end of the evening, about the 3rd to last piece I played was Cancione de la Hilandera (Song of the Thread Spinner), a tremolo piece by the great Paraguayan guitarist Augustin Barrios. As I reached a climactic point about 2/3rd throgh the piece a woman came up to me (as I am playing!) and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, " Your playing is amazing!" Then I went over to a man from the Tug Hill Winery and had a short chat that resulted in me probably playing at the winery during ine of their Thursday evening Wine Down events. So, that was good. I must be sure to follow up on that.

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 28th, I will be playing at The Taste Of The Town in Watertown, NY. I should make myself take a video camera and for ONCE in my life record what I play. I will be using a 1984 Guild Mark V classical guitar. It has a piezo electric pickup in it which I will plug into a Fishman SoloAmp2.

Guitar Playing At North Country Arts Council Muse 2012

Just returned from Muse 2012, a multi arts presentation of The North Country Arts Council. The entertainment was terrific & varied. I played 3 guitar pieces by Fernando Sor, but the most mesmerizing event was hoop dancer Jozette Borrmann accompanied by electric guitar played by Aaron Horeth. It gave me goos bumps at one point. It was INCREDIBLE. Horeth played his guitar through some type of effects box made by Roland. I cannot even begin to describe Jozettes dancing, but it was stunning. Stupid me, my camera was in my car which I almost NEVER leave behind. But I was wrapped up with setting up my sound system and helping out some of the other acts that it was too late to run back to the car because I would have missed most of the hoops/guitar act. Jozettes web site is www.whirledpeacehoops.org

Now for my part. I played 3 pieces by Fernando Sor, Spanish army captain, contemporary of Beethoven's, prolific composer of guitar music. They were selected from Andres Segovia's compilation of 20 Studies For Guitar by Fernando Sor. They were stuies #2, #4, and #5. For the most part I played them well. But I suffered from stage fright which caused me to sweat and have shaky hands. In particular my left hand. There were about a 150 people in the hall. They were dead silent as I played. I had a slight memory lapse at the very last measure or 2 of the 4th study. As best as I can recollect, the Study #2 came off very well as did the Study #5. I don't know why I wasn't more relaxed, but I wasn't.
What I need to do, and have thought about doing for years, is to set up a series of guitar recitals. Those situations where people actually sit and listen as they did this evening. I'm sure if I did 50, 60, a hundred or more of such events I would get comfortable with it. I just have to make myself do it. The problem is that the first few ( who knows the first dozen or more?) will be nerve racking and stressful until I find my way and settle into a groove.
One of my ideas is to set up a series of recitals in the local libraries here in the North Country. Between Jefferson, Lewis, & St Lawrence Counties I could book a lot of recitals. It's like every thing else, I just have to DO IT!