I am a guitarist, singer and bass player. I have a teaching qualification
and I spent a number of years studying classical guitar with a tutor in Cardiff.
This enabled me to pass a grade V with the Trinity International Examinations
Board. I spent another two years on grade six and I also spent some time studying
theory of music. In 2003 I completed stage II of my PGCE and I came out with
an Adult and Further Education Teacher's Certificate. My main area of interest
has been traditional music and I also play a number of other instruments.
These include the five-string banjo, the Melodeon and the diatonic folk/blues
harmonica.
At the age of 21, I took part in Camp America. I spent eight weeks living
and working on a summer camp for children and young people with learning difficulties
in North Eastern Pensylvannia. This was a very formative period in my life.
I assisted with the running of the music programme and ran classes on a daily
basis for voice and acoustic guitar. It was at this point that I became very
much interested in traditional music and this experience laid the foundation
for my involvement in this field of music today. I can remember learning basic
finger picking techniques and strumming simple chord progressions. I recall
singing 'This Land is Your Land', 'House of the Rising Sun' and 'the Gambler'
by Kenny Rogers. I became interested in the music of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly,
Mississipi John Hurt, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Norman Blake. I started
to go to folk festivals and in the last couple of years I have done stewarding duties at three different folk festivals: Priddy in Somerset, Bedworth in the Midlands
and Bromyard in Herefordshire. At the age of twenty six I went to Newton Park College in Bath
(now Bath Spa University) where I did a Degree in Combined Studies and I came
out with an Upper Second Division.
Some of my favourite composers for the classical guitar
Classical Guitar is a unique and long-established method of playing the guitar.
Classical guitarists also use a distinct playing style, which involves using
a combination of fingers and fingernails to strike the strings, rather than
using a pick. Despite the fact that classical guitar is an instrument in its
own right and separate from other styles of guitar playing many of the techniques
used in classical guitar are transferable to other types of music such as
rock and country. The scales and arpeggios found in the classical guitar syllabus
can be used in the field of heavy rock to achieve a more unique sound. To
this end, I always recommend that students learn pieces from the standard
repertoire for classical guitar at least up to grade four or five standard.
The early 20th
century guitarist, Andrés Segovia, was responsible for making the guitar
a popular instrument. Largely due to his efforts, the guitar became a respected
and established instrument. Joseph Fernando Sor was born in Barcelona and
baptised there on the 14th February 1778. As a Catalan he was educated at
the Monastery School of Montserrat and was educated at the Military Academy
at Barcelona,however life in the army was not his calling, for at the age
of nineteen his first opera "The Telemaco" was premiered at the Barcelona
Opera House in 1797.
Mateo
Carcassi. Italian Guitarist and composer, born in 1792, achieved fame in Paris
in 1820. He is best known for his famous method (Opus 59) and "Twenty
Five Progressive Studies" (Opus 60). He died in 1853 at the age of 61.
Ferdinand Carulli was born in Naples on February 10th 1770. Though at first
he studied the cello and violin, he was soon attracted to the guitar which
was developing in range and popularity at the time. He his best known for
the large number of pieces that he composed for beginners and his studies
are found in many teaching manuals and instruction books today. His performances
dominated the Parisian guitar world until the arrival of Sor in 1823. Sor
became the new favourite and Carulli retired to spend the rest of his years
composing music and teaching his son Gustavo, who also achieved success as
a guitarist. Fernando Carulli died in Paris in February 1841, aged 71 years.
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