Classical Guitar Canada

Le Trio Alla Grande play Carnaval by Roux

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Le Trio Alla Grande play Carnaval by Patrick Roux (both Canadian).

I recently played this work with the Victoria Trio, a nice job played here by Le Trio Alla Grande. For those who don’t know this piece is originally for quartet and recorded by the composer himself with his well known group the “Canadian Guitar Quartet”.

Buy the Canadian Guitar Quartet recording:

“Les Scènes de Quartiers: Music of Patrick Roux” (Canada Store | US and International)

The Week in Links (March 13th)

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:36:52 +0000

Canadian News:

Bianco A World Class Act: Award-winning French guitarist becomes part of the classical guitar revolution [www.seemagazine.com]

Pat Metheny Interview – Orchestrion

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:15:21 +0000

I know this isn’t classical guitar but it’s at least darn interesting!

Pat Methany talks about his new album Orchestrion.

This is pretty brilliant, the instruments react to his midi control on his guitar making the experience interactive with the mechanized instruments. This kind of interaction and relationship with the otherwise lifeless controlled sounds really changes the concept and possibilities of playing with electronics. Neat stuff, gotta love Pat Methany.

Pepe Romero – Northwest Guitar Festival 2010

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:28:12 +0000

PEPE ROMERO
Sunday, April 11, 8pm. Alix Goolden Hall
Victoria Conservatory of Music (Pandora & Quadra)
Tickets – $38.50 ($5 student discount) and are available through the

McPherson Box Office (Pepe Romero tickets) or 250.386.6121) or at the door.
Pepe Romero is an acclaimed living legend in the world of classical music. The feature concert of the Northwest Guitar Festival.
www.vcm.bc.ca

Maestro Romero maintains a whirlwind touring schedule and is regarded as one of the top classical musicians in the world. He has played for US presidential administrations, the Vatican, the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Sweden, has been knighted by the King of Spain, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria. The richness and beauty of Romero’s music has been communicated to millions of people throughout the world. Victoria is delighted to host Pepe Romero for this special concert and he will be joined by his colleague Alexander Dunn.

Alice in Wonderland – Oberon Guitar Trio

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:10:40 +0000

The Oberon Guitar Trio performs movements I and II of Claude Gagnon’s “Alice au pays des merveilles.” First of three videos.

Oberon Guitar Trio (Calgary, Alberta)
Website: http://www.oberonguitartrio.com/
Murray Visscher, Brad Mahon, Ralph Maier

Alice in Wonderland (mvmts.I & II) – The Oberon Guitar Trio

Alice in Wonderland (mvmt.III) – The Oberon Guitar Trio

Alice in Wonderland (mvmts.IV & V) – The Oberon Guitar Trio

Sheet Music Collection

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:05:38 +0000

I recently had 3 e-mails asking if we had a sheet music collection. Most people know about our “Free Sheet Music Archive” on the taskbar below our website header, but for those of you just recieving the RSS feed or getting this through facebook, here it is:

Free Sheet Music for Classical Guitar by Composer in PDF Format

Also see our: Publications

Technique & Fretboard Knowledge Sheet Music:

Solo Sheet Music:

Thanks for stopping by, lend a helping hand?

The Week in Links (March 7th)

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:05:34 +0000

My hiatus is over after a two week pause due to work and school. I’ve been preparing an all Canadian programme with the Victoria Guitar Trio, including a world premiere of a piece for trio and tape by R.D. Wraggett. Also working on an John Oliver Quartet with the Trio and Dr. Alexander Dunn. Plus, just started working on a piece for 9 guitars by Michael Nicollela to be conducted by the composer. Everything is being performed at this year’s Northwest Guitar Festival in Victoria, BC.

Here’s the week in links folks:

Let’s ask Gyan Riley: An interview with Sequenza (www.sequenza21.com)
Branding for Better Practicing: (www.classicalguitarblog.net)
Ready, set, create! “ability to plan and otherwise prepare our practice sessions” (musiciansway.com)
March 2010 The Music Education Blog Carnival (mustech.net)

-Brad

Review: The Inner Game of Music

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:46:39 +0000

The Inner Game of Music
By Barry Green, W. Timothy Gallwey

Buy it at Amazon: (Canada - US/International)

Those of you unfamiliar with the legacy of this title will need to travel back to the 1970’s when his popular book The Inner Game of Tennis was a big seller. Since the 1970s, Timothy Gallwey’s books such as The Inner Game of Tennis, The Inner Game of Golf, Inner Skiing and The Inner Game of Work have coached millions in the mastery of their art. The Inner Game of Tennis sold more than one million copies.Besides sports, his training methods have been applied to the fields of business, health, and education.

“By the best-selling co-author of Inner Tennis, here’s a book designed to help musicians overcome obstacles, help improve concentration, and reduce nervousness, allowing them to reach new levels of performing excellence and musical artistry.” (Product description)

The key to this book is to put the advice into action! Reading the book is plenty useful as it will give you many new ideas but you have to try out everything he suggests. At times it might seem a bit corny and superficial – or even too obvious – but put his ideas to the test and you’ll see results.

My favorite advice in the book is a muscle relaxation technique. I’ve now put this into constant use in my studio at the Victoria Conservatory.

Try playing a short passage of music and tense all your muscles. You might make some mistakes but really tense up. Rate your level of tension from 1-10. Your high tension rate should be between 8-10.
Now play the passage again with a tension level of 1-3. By rating your muscle tension you begin to build a system that puts you in a position of ultra awareness with your muscles. It really works.

Besides practical tips the book aims at make musicians at peace with practising, performing, and the lifelong commitment we dedicate to our art.

Classical Guitar Canada Rating (out of ten stars.): 9 stars

Marcin Dylla Interview

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:46:51 +0000

Marcin Dylla – Classical Guitar Performance – GFA Winner 2007

Interview/promotion for his upcoming DVD release.

Marcin Dylla Website: www.marcindylla.com

The Week in Links (Feburary 23)

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:17:19 +0000

The Week in Links is a new section to the blog. It will come out every weekend (obviously I’m not too on the ball as today is Tuesday). But from now on – Weekends!

History & Knowledge:

Practise and performance:

The ultimate practice shortcut (musiciansway.com)
- Practise tips
Performance reborn (www.artsjournal.com/sandow)
- A great article about the dynamic world of classical music performance. Practical tips to becoming a better performer: Study acting. Take movement classes. Work with a stage director. Tell stories. Improvise musically. Compose. Play everything wrong!

This week in Classical Guitar Canada Posts: