Mauro Giuliani 120 Arpeggio Studies for Classical Guitar

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), along with Fernando Sor, was considered to be one the greatest guitar virtuoso from the early 19th century. He also played the cello and was a prolific composer.

These exercises (published in 1815) thought out principally for the right hand get progressively harder and all studies are listed with their original number next to them. It's amazing how the right hand only uses a simple alteration between C Major and G dom. 7th chords over three bars of music.

I have posted a selection of 8 exercises which I think are the ones that represent an advanced standard of right hand technique. I fell that this group summarizes all that should be achieved all in a nutshell. Whichever set of exercises you decide to work on, we should always take into account important musical factors like dynamics (p, mf, f, cres., decres.), articulation (staccato, legato, accents), tone control (tasto and pont and everything in between), tempi (slow/ fast, accelerando/decelerando), texture and most importantly voicing (placing emphasis on the bass, middle or upper voices as determined by the music).

Here are some suggestions for developing a solid right hand arpeggio technique: play the exercise on open strings, combine free and rest stroke, establish rhythmic precision and alteration (change the values from long to short and vice-versa), play any series of exercises sequentially as if they were a concert piece, use two different chords and always be observant and listen to yourself, and treat the exercise as if it were an important piece to be performed in front of an audience and/or microphone.

http://www.stormthecastle.com/classical_guitar/Collection/120studies-for-right-hand.pdf

Noon Concert Series presents Christian Laremont, Guitar Wednesday, November 4 @ 12:00 pm

THROCKMORTON THEATRE: Upcoming Events

The Throckmorton Theater http://throckmortontheatre.org/ is a nonprofit, live performing organization. I am grateful and proud to have played there. The Theatre's mission is to unite the local community through the transformative power of the arts delivering artistic programs in all the creative fields. Many thanks to Lucy Mercer who is in charge of the Artistic Programming.

Rondo Allegretto (Grande Sonate in C, op.22) - F. Sor

F. Sor (1778-1839) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer (operas, symphonies, string quartet, piano, voice and ballet). He was the first to convert the guitar into a miniature sized orchestra (observation made by L.V. Beethoven).

Generally speaking Sor's guitar music depends on a solid independent lower voice, dialogues between the voices and the frequent use of three-voice textures. Sor's writing style was a representation of his advanced conception of the textural possibilities of the instrument.

The Grande Sonate op.22 is a multi-movement piece set in the four movement scheme of the high classical Austro-French string quartet or symphony esthetically influenced by Haydn and formally modeled after Pleyel. It was published in Paris in 1825 and most likely written in Spain during the period 1800-08. The Rondó-Allegretto is an extended five-part rondó A-B-A-C-A (ending with a coda) that presents elements of the sonata form through its transitions and theme types.

Preservice Music for Wedding in (Hidden Villa) Los Altos Hills, CA 5/16/2015

Casals and the Art of Interpretation

Pablo Casals (1876-1973), considered to be one of Spain's greatest cellist and conductors during the first half of the 20th century, was born in a Catalonian towncalled Vendrell (not far from Barcelona). He was a prodigious child and by the age of 11 he could play the piano, violin and flute, and would later master the cello. His professional career (which started in 1897 spanning 73 years) saw him as a soloist, chamber music member, conductor and composer. He once said, "Can you imagine. They say I'm a great cello player. I answer, I'm not a cellist. I am a musician!" This phrase sums up Casals' mind of thought and philosophy.

After having read Casals and the Art of Interpretation various times (written by D. Blum and published for the first time in 1980), I've decided to share the main ideas of this highly recommendable book. Here's a link in both English http://www.download-genius.com/download-k:Casals+and+the+Art+of+Interpretation+David+Blum.pdf.html?aff.id=2338&aff.subid=77 and Spanish http://www.libros12.com/casals-y-el-arte-de-la-interpretacion/ where you can download a free pdf version of the book.

Two Practical Examples

This is the fifth of a series of technique exercises that I've published for the classicguitar. It focuses on different ways of approaching, learning and also improving your musical/interpretation skills. The two pieces featured are "Study Num. 1" by H. Villa-Lobos and J.S. Bach's "Luatenpraludium" in Dm. 

Once a piece is learned, the next challenge is to perfect and improve it. How can this be done? Here you will see some examples that can help give you insight on how to achieve this sometimes difficult task.

"The Entertainer" Transcription for Guitar

         

"The Entertainer" subtitled "A Rag Time Two Step" (a popular early 20th century N. American dance and style of music common among rags) was completed in 1902 by the African-American composer Scott Joplin (1867-1917). He wrote several ragtime piano compositions or "rags" (his most famous being"Maple Leaf Rag"), operas, ballets, marches and waltzes. Ragtime preceded Jazz which would become the dominant popular music in the U.S. by 1917.

It has an A B A C D structure or four 16 measure segments of music. Syncopation (a basic characteristic of this style of music) is omnipresent. The piece became famous in 1973 with the release of the multiple Oscar winning film The Sting ("The Entertainer" was featured as the theme music and the soundtrack won an Oscar). It was originally composed for piano in C (remember the piano was the main instrument of Ragtime) and there are countless transcriptions for many different instruments and instrumentations. Here's my arrangement for guitar in the key of G

with some RH and LH fingerings.