tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64999965035815039732024-02-06T22:48:41.442-06:00William's guitar blogThoughts on classical guitar, learning and practice techniques, and music in general.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-83374187928464503702012-11-10T21:56:00.001-06:002012-11-10T21:56:18.825-06:00New websiteHi all,<br />
I've redone my <a href="http://classicalguitartulsa.com/">Classical Guitar Tulsa</a> website and am moving my blog there. All new posts will be there instead of here so please <a href="http://classicalguitartulsa.com/blog/">update your bookmarks</a>. I apologize for the initial inconvenience, but I think the format is much nicer for reading and for the videos I like to link to.<br />
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At long last, I have some ideas for new posts I intend to write soon, so please keep an eye on the new blog.<br />
-WilliamWilliam Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-69037663472748827852012-06-01T20:56:00.002-05:002012-06-01T20:58:00.261-05:00A bit of a rantOne thing that has always frustrated me about classical guitar is something that many people find to be one of its primary assets. I've lost count of how many times someone has said to me, "oh, I love classical guitar! It's so soothing!"<br />
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It comes off as a sort of unintentionally back-handed compliment, so I am most surprised when this comes from other musicians whom I feel should know better... It reminds me of a classical radio station in the SF Bay Area, which has the slogan, "Casual. Comfortable. Classical." Because we all know that the reason for all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into composing and performing classical music is to make your morning commute a little less stressful.<br />
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There are two similar notions I have been pondering, especially today, as I have been at a music teachers' conference in Oklahoma City.<br />
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<ul>
<li>As a guitarist, I must only be interested in guitar stuff. (Guitarist/composer Brad Richter gave a talk and performed a new piece that the music teacher's association commissioned from him. Therefore, since I am a classical guitarist, this must be the only reason I am here.)</li>
<li>It is surprising that I may find presentations interesting even if they do not involve the guitar. </li>
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Now, I don't take these personally or hold them against the people who express them, because it does genuinely seem to be true that guitarists tend to be interested only in guitar stuff. This is something I have struggled with, too, as I see it as a shortcoming of the guitar community and because I see myself reflected in it.</div>
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On the flip side, I play Irish music on flute, and have often ended up in uncomfortable conversations in which I had to explain to people that I don't play Scottish or "Celtic" music. Many people don't know the difference, and many people take it as a sign of snobbery. I know some people find it really off-putting and I am sorry for that, but it's just pure honesty. </div>
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But to me, they are quite different musically, and some things appeal to me and others don't. In fact, to say that I play Irish music is almost a bit misleading, because there are styles within Irish music which don't appeal to me and therefore I don't play them. In the end, I don't wish to do a disservice to music that I don't appreciate by pretending that I can do it justice.</div>
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So maybe the classical guitar community is kind of conservative and insular, and in some cases may be ignorant of the larger classical music community... But I am glad that there are some people out there who can hear something other than soothing background music, because we guitarists would be in REALLY sorry shape if nobody could hear the artistry that we aspire to.</div>
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So, upon much reflection, I am happy that there is a community of people who appreciate classical guitar for what it actually is, because it is really difficult being passionate about music for which most people have only apathy. People who only like guitar music deserve high quality music to enjoy, too. We can do our best to expand our audience, but let's start by being grateful for what we have.</div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-14679731185998430982012-05-31T16:05:00.001-05:002012-05-31T16:05:52.076-05:00Classical Guitarists: Conversations by Jim TosoneI recently ran across the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786408138/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=willisguitabl-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0786408138">"Classical Guitarists: Conversations" by Jim Tosone</a> and was surprised I hadn't heard about it before. It features interviews with many prominent classical guitarists and composers, and they all go into greater depth than one typically finds in an artist interview.<br />
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The highlights or me are the interviews with John Williams, David Starobin, Sharon Isbin, and George Crumb, but the entire book is well worth a read.<br />
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Here are a few things I picked up from the book that I found interesting:<br />
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<ul>
<li>George Crumb has written more for the guitar than I realized. When I was in high school, my friend Len introduced me to Crumb's music, and it opened my eyes to a whole world of music I didn't know existed. I think this is a large part of why I am a classical musician today. I am now determined to perform Crumb's "Mundus Canis" someday.</li>
<li>Many of the artists featured in the book play Thomas Humphrey Millenium guitars (or did at the time of the interview).</li>
<li>Having ridiculously long fingers, according to Eliot Fisk, is not always an asset when playing guitar. He talks about having to finger some typical open position chords differently because his fingers just get in the way. My thought on this is that we get good by figuring out what works for us, not forcing ourselves into preconceived notions. </li>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL4E51413F557D93C9&hl=en_US" width="560"></iframe>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-2961338570835972522012-04-26T22:06:00.005-05:002012-04-26T22:06:53.472-05:00Narvaez: Fantasia played by two guitaristsHere's one of my favorite pieces, by my favorite composer, played by two of my favorite guitarists. Enjoy!<br />
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First, Pablo Marquez.<br />
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Next, Kevin Gallagher.<br />
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<br />William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-33219092026810126062012-04-23T09:23:00.000-05:002012-04-23T09:23:06.061-05:00Matt PalmerMy wife and I drove four hours each way yesterday to see <a href="http://www.mattpalmerguitar.com/">Matt Palmer</a> perform in Kansas City, MO. My conclusion: it was well worth it! Matt's making a name for himself based on his impressive technique, but his tone, phrasing, and timing are wonderfully tasteful.<br />
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If you live anywhere near Kansas City and are not aware of the <a href="http://www.kansascityguitarsociety.org/">Kansas City Guitar Society</a>, you should make a point of connecting with them.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-24243247962767538142012-04-15T10:45:00.000-05:002012-04-15T10:45:34.260-05:00New book by Jean-Francois Desrosby<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=willisguitabl-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=2981287826&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px; float:left; margin-right:10px"></iframe><br />
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I just read "Guitarists: Unlock your potential" by Jean-Francois Desrosby. I'm still digesting the information, but it's a very succinct book which looks at guitar technique from a physiological perspective. It did give me some new ideas to think about, but most of what I have gotten from it so far are explanations as to why some things which seem most logical don't work (usually because that logic is based on incomplete or mistaken information).<br />
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The main principal of his book is to use each muscle in the manner for which it was designed. A good example is giving the task of shifting positions to the large shoulder and arm muscles, rather than driving it from the hand, so the hand can stay relaxed. You may say, "how can the hand move without the help of the arm and shoulder, anyway?" I suppose it can't, but on the flip side, many guitarists create tension in their hand while shifting when in fact the hand should be able to stay relaxed. The key is to figure out what is actually going on whenever you do something, and remove all the elements that are unnecessary.<br />
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Here's a video of Mr. Desrosby:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eLKJK5xvZPY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-63927002006287608652012-03-30T11:14:00.000-05:002012-03-30T11:14:26.969-05:00Quick tip for studentsWhenever you have a question for your teacher, write it down, so you don't forget it before your next lesson.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-21672426803019154922012-03-10T16:17:00.002-06:002012-03-10T16:19:52.298-06:00Brigitte Zaczec on Baroque lute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I just found this very nice video of Brigitte Zaczek on baroque lute. I'd never heard of her before but was intrigued because of her last name's similarity to my own. I find the interviewer to be a bit creepy, frankly, but I enjoyed the performance and the great footage of her right hand technique. It's especially interesting how she uses her right hand thumb to manage the beginning and end of every bass note. We have to do the same thing on guitar, too, but in comparison, we've really got it easy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a bonus, here's audio of her playing a piece by Mertz on a period instrument.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6vlO3OLPnHM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-15179747070114552422012-03-06T08:06:00.002-06:002012-03-06T08:06:45.581-06:00Sound familiar?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zZgVRM-GjL4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-37807414160187898612012-03-05T10:22:00.000-06:002012-03-05T10:22:13.288-06:00Make your own pathI'm not sure what made me think of this, but a while back (it must have been a long time, since it has been several months since I removed myself from internet forums in order to enjoy my life more) maybe a year or two I remember someone saying he planned to spend the next year immersing himself in the music of one composer. The responses varied, but I believe the general feeling was that in the interest of being a well-rounded musician, this was not a good idea.<br />
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Well, if your goal is to be a well-rounded musician, maybe so. Being a well-rounded musician is a great thing. On the other hand, if the music of Fernando Sor is what gets you out of bed in the morning, I think you should go with it. Cultivate the obsession and learn as much about Sor and as much of his music as you can.<br />
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Several years ago, for a variety of reasons, I quit playing guitar altogether for about a year. I used to really regret it; I did lose some technical ground and some flexibility in my hands that took a long time to regain. On the other hand, during that time, I became a pretty good irish flute player because that was the obsession that drove me at the time. Flute led me to a world of social music-making that has helped me make some very close friends and enriched my life. Making music in that kind of capacity has brought me a wealth of insight into the nature of music and performing, following the flow of and getting carried away by music. All these things could have happened if I'd followed a straighter path, but they would have been different.<br />
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A few years before that, I'd been working hard to prepare myself to audition for music school. I was ready to quit my job and start my life over, despite being deeply in debt at the time. In the end, I stuck with my job and paid off my debt. A long the way, I fell in love and got married, and together the two of us saved up a substantial amount of money and went for a 7-month road trip. I'd probably be a much better guitarist by now if I'd stuck to the plan and gone to music school, but instead I had the experience of a lifetime, the likes of which most people may never get a chance to have. Was it a better choice? I don't know. The right choice? For me, yes.<br />
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I'm not saying you shouldn't go to music school or that you shouldn't try to become a well-rounded musician. I'm saying that if you should never regret following your dreams and making the best of whatever you end up doing. To paraphrase a famous quote, it's better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-3395383096649909642012-01-20T11:35:00.000-06:002012-01-20T11:35:56.492-06:00Adam Rafferty: This is how I practice guitarThanks to my friend <a href="http://www.celticfingerstyleguitar.com/">Anton Emery</a>, I just read fingerstyle guitarist Adam Rafferty's <a href="http://adamrafferty.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/this-is-how-i-practice-guitar/">nice blog post about how he practices guitar</a>, in which he says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-top: 0.7em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">When I practice, I do it for the love of doing it. I play my scales every day with attention to “form”, relaxation, groove and tone. I run my repertoire for the delicacy and delight of playing with a deep satisfying rhythmic pocket and fingers that perfectly “touch” the strings.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-top: 0.7em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">I plod along, day by day – and will do so for my whole life. Day in, day out. That’s what I do. I practice for the love of practicing itself – with no result in mind. This is how I practice guitar.</div></blockquote>I have to agree. For me, the learning and experience is the key. Some days I really enjoy solving problems and developing my understanding, and some days I can just sit there for a half hour and just work on smoothing out one small aspect of technique. I find it more satisfying to accomplish one substantial thing than to try to chip away at a whole bunch of things.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-45683966570569363562012-01-03T09:52:00.000-06:002012-01-03T09:53:40.333-06:00Holiday break recordingsI recorded three videos last week during the holiday break. Having a full-time job again and students in the evenings, I haven't had enough practice time to maintain any repertoire. However, I've found that spending an hour in front of the camera is one of the best and quickest ways to improve my playing.<br />
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All three pieces are fantasia-type pieces (as opposed to dance movements) from the renaissance era. I just can't get enough of this kind of music. The first is one from Frederick Noad's "The Renaissance Guitar" book. I recorded a few takes of this one on the day after xmas but was unhappy with them. I left them alone for the night and listened again the next day, and decided to feel the piece differently.<br />
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It's written primarily as half-notes with a few sections of quarter notes. I was unhappy with it when I played it all at a sort of measured pace, so I decided to treat the quarter note sections as written-out ornaments rather than part of the melody.<br />
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The second piece was a fantasia by Francesco Da Milano from an old book called "Lautenmusik aus der Renaissance." It's the first piece in the book. I more or less used the fingerings in the book, which were for standard guitar tuning. I'd like to try it again sometime with F# lute tuning, partly because it would suit the piece better, and also because the next piece on the page (another da Milano Fantasia) is one that I already happen to know in that tuning. The two would pair nicely if there was no need to change tuning.<br />
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The third piece is "Preambel" by Antonio Rotta, from the same book. This piece puzzled me when I first looked at it, although I hope it doesn't sound like that anymore. I think perhaps that much of the renaissance music we encounter in collections has been chosen because it is relatively accessible with our experience of tonal music.<br />
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This piece begins like it's in A minor and progresses like it's in D minor, but the larger phrases resolve to D major. Two or three times in it, however, D major is set up as though it's the V chord, which we would expect to resolve to G major, but instead it goes to E minor. It also has some significant IV-I cadences, which remind me of the polyphonic vocal music from that era which I love so much.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks for listening, and I hope my discussion of the pieces gives you ideas to think about in your own music. I'll try to do this again more often.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">PS:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">For those of you interested in recording, my friend Doug has put a nice video on Youtube about the process of recording. He takes a track from his new album and talks about how it was recorded, processed, mixed, and mastered. You should view it on YouTube in high quality to get the most from it.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/e5kCVXyQDys?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-55253220357801741852011-11-04T05:00:00.000-05:002011-11-04T05:00:11.525-05:00Los Romeros workshop (part 2): Etudes and repertoireI'm not going to be able to offer a whole lot of detail directly from a workshop I took no notes on, but I will offer a few highlights that I can recall and my own thoughts on those topics.<br />
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One idea that has stuck with me from the Los Romeros workshop I attended years ago, was Pepe's statement that students develop their technique using studies (specifically mentioning Carcassi, Sor, and Brouwer) and then reward their achievement with appropriate repertoire. This approach depends on having a patient student and some good guidance, but that's nothing unusual, is it?<br />
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I think he has a fair point. Etudes may not be "appropriate for the concert stage," but maybe it's better to work through the effort, frustration, and doubt of the learning process while learning these studies rather than the music you intend to perform. Then, maybe you can go on stage with a whole program of music <b>without</b> baggage of effort, frustration, and doubt. That sounds like a much better situation to me.<br />
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A well-composed study like Carcassi's can offer a systematic technical workout in a bite-sized (or perhaps mouthful) chunk. The flip side of that, which I don't think Pepe mentioned, is that a good musical understanding is what transforms a "boring study" into a satisfying piece of music is the performer's grasp of the music itself. Perhaps even more so than the technique.<br />
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For example, playing a slur study well is more than merely executing the slurs. The dynamics and tone colors have to flow with the line, and pull-offs to open strings can't sound plunky. So the technique of a descending slur isn't just "pluck the string with the left hand." The speed and direction of the motion, surface area of the finger used, and amount of pulling the string sideways versus sliding across it are all factors that contribute to the sound of the slur.<br />
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If you try to control all of this at the muscular level, you'll just get bogged down in the details and never move on. It's much easier if you let your ears control your technique rather than your fingers.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-85761619291419968362011-11-01T09:45:00.000-05:002011-11-01T09:45:57.560-05:00Pittsburgh Classical Guitar Society, and a Los Romeros workshop (part 1)I'm planning to visit my family in Pittsburgh, PA over Thanksgiving this year. I was wondering if there might be any classical guitar concerts to attend while I'm there, and while searching for that, I discovered that Pittsburgh now has a <a href="http://chadbecks.com/tag/pittsburgh-classical-guitar/">classical guitar society</a>. I'm surprised it didn't already have one, but I'm pleased to see that it does now.<br />
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Several years ago, when I was living in California, I flew to Pittsburgh to attend a Los Romeros concert with my dad (who has been a fan of them for as long as I can remember) and to go to a workshop that they were giving the next day. I thought it was to be a masterclass, but it was really more of a lecture/demonstration. I was surprised by how many guitarists attended, but when Pepe asked if anyone would like to play something, nobody volunteered at first. So, nervous novice that I was, I volunteered and played the first movement of La Catedral. I'd planned to play the whole thing, figuring that nobody else wanted to play, but near the end of the prelude, Pepe's cell phone rang. He was embarrassed that it happened, and I wasn't really upset, but my playing kind of fell apart and I ended with the prelude.<br />
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I'm glad I played, though, because one by one after that, others decided to play something, until nearly everyone in the room had played. I distinctly remember a 10 or 11 year old boy playing Brouwer's etude #1 with great gusto. It hadn't occurred to him that he should be nervous like the rest of us, I suppose.<br />
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I had forgotten about this workshop until recently. I didn't take notes, unfortunately, but I think I remember some of the highlights. I'll write up what I can remember for my next blog post.<br />
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I want to thank my readers that have stuck with me even though I haven't been posting as often recently. I appreciate it.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-53055463303832000152011-10-01T08:56:00.000-05:002011-10-01T08:57:20.768-05:00Playing on the beatI've been working recently on learning to play 'drums' on a midi keyboard, for a recording project. I haven't seriously played a keyboard instrument since I was 8, so I have no real keyboard technique, and seeing my notes appear on screen piano-roll-style made it obvious that I was playing ahead of the beat all the time. This could easily be fixed after the fact, but I knew I'd be happier if I could get it right from the beginning.<br />
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As a quick aside, getting it right doesn't mean every note has to be squarely on the beat. That goes for classical guitar too, as my teacher frequently reminds me.<br />
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I spent a bunch of time trying to play on the beat, and was still always ahead of it, being both incompetent and anxious that I was going to get it wrong yet again. So then I started trying to deliberately play after the metronome click, hoping that my tendency to anticipate the beat would even things out. At first, it made me feel way more anxious (I'm going to be late!) but the recording and 'piano roll' don't lie; almost right away, I was right on.<br />
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Now, I'm not going to say the problem is 100% solved, but after spending more time with it, the anxiety started going away with the comfort of knowing that I was actually playing in time. The tempo felt slower, and I felt less like I needed to hurry to get the next note. Instead of feeling like I'm playing late, it's starting to feel like I was just playing.<br />
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This would be a good way for anyone to work on a tendency to play off the beat. Record yourself playing with a metronome and listen carefully to the result. If you find that you're playing early, try waiting for the click before playing next time. If you play late, try anticipating the click.<br />
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If you're right on all the time, try playing ahead of or behind the beat intentionally for effect. This kind of control of the rhythm is the next step.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-69524860318441491972011-09-09T16:21:00.000-05:002011-09-09T16:40:22.460-05:00Making art vs. making pretty pictures<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=willisguitabl-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0312427719&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Just a brief post this week. I've been reading "The Rest Is Noise" by Alex Ross for the past few days and would strongly recommend it to any classical guitarist even though there's not much, if any, info related to the guitar in it.<br />
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If you're not a fan of 20th century/modern/contemporary/new music, this book is especially for you. For one thing, the author's thoughtful descriptions of many of the key pieces can help unlock this dense music for a listener who doesn't have the ear for it.<br />
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More importantly, The Rest Is Noise traces the development of many of the composers, movements, and ideas behind modern music through their historical context. Understanding how and why this music came about can help us learn to recognize the art in what may actually seem like a bunch of noise at times. <br />
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My art teacher in high school, Mr. deGroot, used to say that the point of art is not to make "pretty pictures." Setting aside the fact that a lot of 20th century art is unapologetically the opposite of "pretty pictures," let's consider that the guitar repertoire in fact contains a lot of music for which the composer was essentially paid by the page for their work in order to satisfy demand. A lot of that music <b>is</b> more like "pretty picture" music than art music.<br />
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That's not to say that its unworthy of being played, but it is up to us as performers to find the art in the music that we play. And sometimes it is worthwhile for us to take on music which we may find difficult to appreciate; to explore it and come to terms with it. The better we understand what makes something a work of art, the better prepared we will be to create art of our own, with whatever raw materials we have available.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-39737813376811742512011-09-02T08:58:00.000-05:002011-09-02T08:58:51.309-05:00My new old routineSince I moved to Tulsa, I'd been busy with job hunting and then job doing, and I haven't had much inspiration for blogging. For a while, I felt like I was losing a lot of ground with the guitar itself, so I went back to my old routine of getting up early to practice before work. It worked for me pretty well, the last time I work working a full-time job.<br />
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Long story short, my playing sprang back up to normal and I'm making progress again. My 9-month long memorization block went away and I'm learning new repertoire quickly again.<br />
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Being sleepy from waking up early is a very different thing than being exhausted from using my brain all day. I think that it's much to be open to learning in this state, even if I feel a bit cranky. Patience and diligence are more readily available. A nice cup of coffee as a reward afterward helps. I hate waking up to an alarm, but it is really nice knowing that I've made music a priority again.<br />
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PS: I'm gradually moving my blog over to <a href="http://william.bajzek.com/">my website</a>. For a while I will be posting to both, but I won't switch over completely until I've fixed up the postings that I've transferred over. Some of the videos and things don't survive the import process and I haven't had time to fix them.William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-86132027368425357862011-08-05T17:00:00.000-05:002011-08-05T17:00:01.251-05:00More thoughts on Effortless MasteryLife has been busy recently, unfortunately full of real-world work, and not a whole lot of time for music. As I often do in these times, I'm still practicing guitar regularly but focusing on one just thing. This time, it is effortlessness.<br />
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It took me a really long time to figure out that the way to play effortlessly is not to struggle with material until it becomes easy and effortless. To date, that method has never worked for me.<br />
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The message of Kenny Werner's excellent "Effortless Mastery" book basically boils down to this:<br />
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<ul><li>To play effortlessly, you have to play effortlessly now.</li>
<li>You play effortlessly <b>now</b> by playing only what you can play effortlessly now.</li>
<li>To play <b>new</b> things effortlessly, you have to work on them as slowly and/or gradually as necessary to keep the effortless feeling. Develop the comfort zone gradually. </li>
<li>Play the material fast sometimes, too, but keep the effortless feeling and completely ignore mistakes. You can work them out in the slow practice; the fast practice is to get used to the feeling of playing fast. </li>
</ul><div>So what is effortlessness? </div><div><br />
</div><div>I used to think it was a physical feeling, but that's just part of it. Keeping a quiet mind is just as important. With the mind quiet and even detached from the physical side of playing, it becomes much easier to listen to what you're doing and develop a listening-based method of playing rather than a physical activity-based method of playing. </div><div><br />
</div><div>It's important to learn the feeling of effortlessness as early on as you can, whether you're working on difficult music, scales, basic finger mechanics, or even just sitting silently with the guitar.</div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-74041186166266748572011-07-22T05:00:00.001-05:002011-07-22T05:00:07.285-05:00A film about Leo BrouwerYoutube user <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/elduendecillo07" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0033cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">elduendecillo07</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">uploaded this fascinating documentary on Leo Brouwer. I've created a playlist that should play them all in order. There's a lot discussion of style and ideas, plus many clips of him playing his own music and others'. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not everyone loves Brouwer's music, but to me he is one of the greatest composers of our era for any instrument. I got hooked on classical guitar when I first heard a classmate play Brouwer's Etude #1. I come back to his Estudios Sencillos once or twice a year, always trying to play them better and discover more in them. </span></span><br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/B285FECD0753B59F?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/B285FECD0753B59F?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-43374023470941911662011-07-15T05:00:00.000-05:002011-07-15T05:00:10.477-05:00William Kanengiser masterclass notes, part 4The final performer at the William Kanengiser masterclass I've been writing about played the fourth movement of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Homage to Boccherini. Kanengiser offered some thoughts particular to Tedesco's writing. It's often said that the guitar should be treated like a miniature orchestra, because of the wealth of tone colors it offers us, and that idea is especially applicable to a composer like Tedesco who was very much an orchestral composer. He was also very particular about how he used dynamics and articulations.<br />
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The rest of the feedback given to this performer was of a technical nature, so I'm going to conclude this series of posts by gathering together all the technical and miscellaneous suggestions that were offered during the masterclass.<br />
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<ul><li>Kanengiser reiterated throughout the class the importance of <b>pulling the notes out of the guitar, moving the strings rather than hitting them</b>. This is really the key to getting a good, consistent tone and needs to be at the core of our technique so that even in the fastest playing where you can't be thinking about control, you can rely on your fingers to activate the strings effectively. Move the strings in towards you before releasing them.</li>
<li><b>The open high E string needs to always be played warmly and fully, to keep the tone balanced with the other strings. </b>Do whatever you can to avoid harshness/excessive brightness.</li>
<li><b>When performing vibrato, move from the shoulder and use the forearm as a pivot point. </b>Don't just wiggle or shake the hand, but get the larger muscles involved.</li>
<li><b>Practice maintaining the clarity and continuity of a single voice when changing strings. </b>This is difficult on guitar, but really important to musical playing. </li>
<li><b>You can be flexible with the right and left hand positions in order to solve technical problems. </b>The two examples I recall Kanengiser giving were related to damping. We often hear that the last phalanx of the left hand fingers should be positioned perpendicular to the plane of the fingerboard so as to only touch one string at a time, but when playing a descending scale in open position, dropping the hand a bit so the pads of the fingertips touch the adjacent string allows us to easily damp the open strings we've played so they don't keep ringing inappropriately. Likewise, we can roll the right hand thumb one way or another to damp a bass string while it is resting on an adjacent one in preparation.</li>
<li><b>Sometimes it's necessary to simplify the music in order to discover its true shape. </b>For example, when the melody is part of a series of arpeggios, leave out the arpeggios for a while and work on the melody on its own.</li>
<li><b>When considering the shape of a line, figure out which notes are "juicy" and which are transitions. </b>It's important for us to understand where the notes fit in the harmony and relation to the beat. Guitarists are infamous for arbitrary and inappropriate accents. </li>
</ul><div>This concludes my series of posts from that masterclass. Thanks for reading! If you've found this information to be helpful or you've otherwise enjoyed reading it, be sure to check out William Kanengiser's CDs, DVDs, and performances. </div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-20309516221465175472011-07-08T05:00:00.000-05:002011-07-08T05:00:07.834-05:00William Kanengiser masterclass notes, part 3Continuing on from my notes from a masterclass given by William Kanengiser in San Jose, back in 2007 or 2008.<br />
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The next student played the Prelude from Bach's Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro BWV 998. Some of Kanengiser's comments reiterate ones I have already mentioned, but I will include them again.<br />
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<ul><li>Dynamics are important, but be careful how you use them.<b> Think like a storyteller</b>. When you want to change dynamics, you can't lose the thread of the story. </li>
<li><b>Bach's music is often ambiguous about whether it's one voice or multiple voices</b>. The 998 prelude is a good example, as are the cello suites (as written for cello). You should get familiar with the implied lines as well as the literal ones, for cues to the overall shape of the piece.</li>
<li><b>Take cues for dynamics from the harmony.</b></li>
<li><b>The bass accents should follow the pulse of the rhythm</b>. It's important to convey the rhythm in the bass as well as the upper voices. Don't be lazy about any voice. </li>
<li><b>The phrasing of pieces is influenced by harmonic modulations. </b>This is especially true in Bach, as it modulates so much. Get to know the harmony!</li>
</ul><div>The penultimate performer also played Bach, the Gavottes from Cello suite no. 5. Feedback focused on structure and phrasing:</div><div><ul><li>Ritards in music are like punctuation in writing. Phrases are like sentences. Pieces in a suite are like chapters in a book. <b>Make it all fit together. </b></li>
<li>Breath - <b>in suites, you need just the right amount of time to convey the separation but also the relations. </b>The tempi need to feel related. </li>
<li>You need to feel sense of cut-time in gavottes.</li>
</ul><div>My notes for the final performer are a little more lengthy so they will wait for now.</div></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-45215288250935622972011-07-01T05:00:00.000-05:002011-07-01T05:00:00.512-05:00William Kanengiser masterclass notes, part 2Continuing on from last week's post... Looking at the notes again, I was impressed by how much time <a href="http://www.kanengiser.com/">William Kanengiser</a> devoted to musical issues versus purely technical ones. I've decided to write this up in multiple parts, which will cover all the musical issues first and the final will cover technical and other miscellaneous ones.<br />
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The second performer played Guardame Las Vacas. Kanengiser mentioned that it was one of, if not the earliest written example of theme & variations. It's based on a popular theme of the time and I seem to remember him singing a bit of it, although that may be a confabulation on my part. <a href="http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/heringman-mudarra/">You can hear a version by Alonso Mudarra for voice and (I think) baroque guitar played by Catherine King and Jacob Heringman here</a>. It differs quite a bit from the familiar version by Narvaez, but I wanted to put in a plug for one of my favorite albums.<br />
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I have only two musical-issue related notes from this piece:<br />
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<ul><li>The <b>notes on top are supported by the rhythm underneath</b>. Kanengiser has the student play it as alternating bars of 3+3 and 2+2+2 accents, found so frequently in spanish music. It helped the student give the piece a stronger sense of rhythmic structure and direction.</li>
<li><b>Rhythmic energy is not necessarily the same thing as dynamic strength</b>. I haven't recorded the context of this not but I assume the student at first put his previous suggestion into practice accenting the beats too forcefully but it is a great general observation. Often times a lighter beat can be more effective and appropriate as long as the beat is conveyed clearly.</li>
</ul><div>The third student played Gavota-Choro by Heitor Villa-Lobos. IIRC, this student was a youngster, perhaps ten or eleven years old, who had broken his arm fairly recently and had just had the cast removed the day before. In spite of this, he only missed one day of practice. He was also playing a 3/4 size guitar and, frankly, had tone that most guitar students would be envious of. Needless to say, he was quite impressive, not to mention fearless. Of course, there was good feedback for him as well.</div><div><ul><li><b>Tone - volume is sometimes less important than richness. </b>A full tone produced by playing somewhat over the soundhole and giving due attention to the quality of each of the voices in the music and the evenness/continuity of their dynamics will give a better overall impression of loudness and projection than attempting to play loudly but without the sense of evenness.</li>
<li><b>Rallentando - </b>Imagine the rhythm of the notes like a baseball card the spokes of a bicycle wheel as the wheel is slowing down gradually. </li>
</ul></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-91950450102848168322011-06-24T05:00:00.000-05:002011-06-24T05:00:15.509-05:00William Kanengiser masterclass notes, part 1I was looking through an old notebook this morning and found notes I took at a masterclass <a href="http://www.kanengiser.com/">William Kanengiser</a> gave in San Jose, CA two or three years ago as part of the Suzuki convention. My notes were hastily written and not terribly detailed, but I'll use them to jog my memory and fill in what I can regarding topics that are generally applicable. Apologies if I've misinterpreted my memory from that far back, but I'll do the best I can. :)<br />
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The first student played Sor's Rondeau, opus 48 number 6, and in response Kanengiser made several suggestions about phrasing:<br />
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<ul><li><b>The shape of phrases follow the strength of the harmony</b>. Harmonies are used for specific reasons, and especially so in classical period music like Sor's. There are some general rules, like when you have a dissonance resolving into a consonance, the (tense) dissonance should be louder than the consonance (release), but the deeper your understand of how this works, the easier it will be for you to give a mature interpretation of phrasing. <a href="http://www.classicalguitar.org/category/music-theory/">This is all covered in depth</a> on Chris Davis's website. </li>
<li><b>Tension, release, surprise - </b>This is related to the above. Consonance moving to dissonance and back create tension and release it, but be on the look out for sudden and significant changes of harmony. Many pieces change keys to break up the tonality, and we might want to change our tone color or dynamics somewhat to reflect the change. Sometimes we are given an unexpected chord quite suddenly - this is meant to give a sense of surprise and we should play that up. </li>
<li><b>Crescendo - start soft enough to really get louder, to exaggerate the effect.</b> Kanengiser suggested not just playing the section before the crescendo quieter, but dropping the volume at the beginning of a crescendo in order to give enough dynamic range to convey the effect and emphasize the new dynamic.</li>
<li><b>When playing bass notes, think like a bass player.</b> It's often said that we should work on the lines in the music we play individually to shape them the way we want. I think Kanengiser wants us to go a step farther. How would a bassist articulate the bassline? For that matter, if you consider the "guitar as miniature orchestra" idea and you have section of music that suggests a brass section, how would the brass section in an orchestra articulate that?</li>
<li><b>After using rubato/decelerando, we need a strong sense of rhythm to pull us back into the pulse. </b></li>
<li><b>When making big leaps, think like a singer - </b>it should have a sense of arrival, not a frantic grab for what we hope might be the right note. </li>
</ul><div>This is getting longer than I expected, so I will continue with it next week. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Big thanks to the Longay school for sponsoring the masterclass, the participants, and of course Kanengiser himself, who is a thoroughly gracious and inspiring teacher. I had the opportunity to play in a masterclass for him a few years prior, but unfortunately for me I was very sick at the time and not able to focus very well nor remember much of the experience. </div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499996503581503973.post-78319499424767274232011-06-17T05:00:00.000-05:002011-06-17T05:00:05.174-05:00Unforgiving<div>After doing some maintenance on my guitar this week, I put on a new set of strings, of a type I hadn't used before. I'm not going to tell you what they are, but they are much lower tension than I normally use on my guitar.<br />
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</div><div>I strung it up, tuned to pitch, and played a few notes and was really blown away by how beautiful they sounded. All the warmth, fullness, and volume I've ever wanted in a string, yet so easy to play. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Today has been kind of a crazy day for me, though, and after playing for a while I was really unhappy with my sound. At first I wanted to just swap them for something familiar, but I thought maybe I'd damaged my nails, so I redid them. As I tested them out, I could get that great tone again, but it went away when I started playing normally. Frustrating.</div><div><br />
</div><div>These strings are just totally unforgiving, and with any carelessness on my part the tone is unusably lousy. But with nails well-cared-for, solid contact with the string, and well-directed plucking motion, they reward me beautifully. That's how I want to sound all the time, and that's how I want to play all the time, regardless of the strings. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I think it'll be worthwhile to leave them on for a while and focus on whatever I need to do to get that classic tone.</div></div>William Bajzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06466983196663664230noreply@blogger.com0