For many years I thought that classical guitar was boring. It just sounded lifeless and too damn perfect. Not too many years ago I heard Julian Bream for the first time and I was instantly converted into a fan.
Music can't be represented by playing all the notes in the right order with technical perfection - that's what computers do, it has to have drama and shape. Julian Bream is a master of that. From what I understand, he didn't study the way most do, and came from playing jazz originally. Maybe thats what I heard in his playing - some kind of freedom of expression that isn't necessarily on the page.
Expressing classical music well on a guitar is extremely hard. This is why I think there is still a huge void where celebrated classical guitarists should be. It's so hard, that there just aren't many people who have managed to do it well enough to be appreciated by classical music lovers and this means that the instrument still struggles to complete for attention.
Consider what classical guitarists need to do with each piece - aside from physically being able to play all the chords and notes of the piece - attempting to play with one hand what pianists do with two, and what orchestras do with many. The physical challenge is daunting. I think it was Segovia who first said: "the guitar has to be played like an orchestra" or something to the effect that each voice of the piece needs to be expressed as if it were a different orchestral instrument.
The first challenge I realized, is getting a reliable tone from the classical guitar for every note played. I'd have to say it has taken me 4 years of religious practise to be able to produce the sounds I have aspired to.
I started learning on a relatively cheap guitar and thought I had a good sound. Some time later I got my first hand made concert guitar and realized I had very little control over tone, texture and dynamic. There was nowhere to hide on this instrument and my sloppy technique was exposed. Mistakes I had got away with on my cheap guitar that had been hidden by the inadequacies of the cheap instrument, were now amplified by the new one. Every nuance was audible.
I realized that an instrument that is capable of expressing every naughty nuance also makes it possible to produce the tone and textures needed for expression. But I needed a much greater level of control in my right and left hands to do this, so I started again.
The main challenge for me was the right hand and fingernail shapes I needed to pluck the strings and produce good tone/volume. I've tried to learn to be sensitive to the subtleties of each voice[instrument] in the piece, as if each were being conducted. Bream did this beautifully. For example, the melody might need to be played at a higher volume to the mid chord voicing, with the bass notes at a lower volume to the lead voice but higher than the chord voice.
I think Julian Bream is to Classical guitar, what Ronnie O'Sullivan is to snooker. There are ,and have been many world class snooker players. But, only Ronnie O'Sullivan makes me want to actually watch the game - I think he brings 'jazz' into the sport like Bream does to Classical guitar music. Both traditionally quite stiff.
I can't sign off here without mentioning my classical concert guitars. I have a 2018 Brian Cohen, a 2011 Rohan Lowe and a 2012 Hauser copy also from Rohan.
Music can't be represented by playing all the notes in the right order with technical perfection - that's what computers do, it has to have drama and shape. Julian Bream is a master of that. From what I understand, he didn't study the way most do, and came from playing jazz originally. Maybe thats what I heard in his playing - some kind of freedom of expression that isn't necessarily on the page.
Expressing classical music well on a guitar is extremely hard. This is why I think there is still a huge void where celebrated classical guitarists should be. It's so hard, that there just aren't many people who have managed to do it well enough to be appreciated by classical music lovers and this means that the instrument still struggles to complete for attention.
Consider what classical guitarists need to do with each piece - aside from physically being able to play all the chords and notes of the piece - attempting to play with one hand what pianists do with two, and what orchestras do with many. The physical challenge is daunting. I think it was Segovia who first said: "the guitar has to be played like an orchestra" or something to the effect that each voice of the piece needs to be expressed as if it were a different orchestral instrument.
The first challenge I realized, is getting a reliable tone from the classical guitar for every note played. I'd have to say it has taken me 4 years of religious practise to be able to produce the sounds I have aspired to.
I started learning on a relatively cheap guitar and thought I had a good sound. Some time later I got my first hand made concert guitar and realized I had very little control over tone, texture and dynamic. There was nowhere to hide on this instrument and my sloppy technique was exposed. Mistakes I had got away with on my cheap guitar that had been hidden by the inadequacies of the cheap instrument, were now amplified by the new one. Every nuance was audible.
I realized that an instrument that is capable of expressing every naughty nuance also makes it possible to produce the tone and textures needed for expression. But I needed a much greater level of control in my right and left hands to do this, so I started again.
The main challenge for me was the right hand and fingernail shapes I needed to pluck the strings and produce good tone/volume. I've tried to learn to be sensitive to the subtleties of each voice[instrument] in the piece, as if each were being conducted. Bream did this beautifully. For example, the melody might need to be played at a higher volume to the mid chord voicing, with the bass notes at a lower volume to the lead voice but higher than the chord voice.
I think Julian Bream is to Classical guitar, what Ronnie O'Sullivan is to snooker. There are ,and have been many world class snooker players. But, only Ronnie O'Sullivan makes me want to actually watch the game - I think he brings 'jazz' into the sport like Bream does to Classical guitar music. Both traditionally quite stiff.
I can't sign off here without mentioning my classical concert guitars. I have a 2018 Brian Cohen, a 2011 Rohan Lowe and a 2012 Hauser copy also from Rohan.
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