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.

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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.