The Guitar Gazette - Western Colorado Classical Guitar Society

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WESTERN
COLORADO
CLASSICAL
GUITAR
SOCIETY
The Guitar Gazette
Volume 1, Issue 1
Board of Directors
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 Javier de loss Santos
 Don Neal
May 2013
estern Colorado Classical Guitar Society Reconvenes
Javier de los Santos, guitar professor at Colorado Mesa University has reconvened the Western Colorado Classical Guitar
Society by forming a guiding board of directors which has created the
following mission statement and goals for the organization:
 Maggie Lopez
 Kathleen Kain
 John Dobbs
Mission - To promote awareness and appreciation of the classical
guitar and its music throughout Western Colorado.
Goals - The society will:
Inside this issue:
WCCGS Reconvenes
Society Details
1.
Hold monthly meetings and provide comradery and help for
local aspiring classical guitarists.
2.
Educate others interested in classical guitar music as to the
history, techniques and art of the classical guitar through lectures, discussions and performances.
3.
Provide the community with the names of classical guitar instructors.
4.
Inform classical guitarists in our community about techniques
and the art of the music through master classes and recitals.
5.
Provide resources and a venue for performances by local and
out-of-town classical guitar artists.
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International Fea- 3
tured Luthiers
Upcoming Event
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Composer Francisco Tarrega
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Board of Directors
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Board of Directors
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Page 2
M
embership
Annual membership dues will be $25.00 per year. Member benefits will be to receive access to lectures, discussions, refreshments, the Western Colorado Classical Guitar Society
Newsletter, and an association with the society. Please contact
Javier de los Santos at 778-6116 or [email protected] if you wish to be a member of the society.
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La Alhambra
Granada, Spain
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estern Colorado Guitar Society Board of Directors
The officers of the society are:
President - Javier de los Santos
Vice President - Don Neal
Secretary - Kathy Kain
Treasurer—John Dobbs
Maggie Lopez
Newsletter publisher/editor—Kathy Kain
F
Recuerdos de la
Alhambra
By
Francisco Tarrega
rancisco Tárrega
Article source—Wikipedia
Francisco Tárrega was born on 21 November 1852, in Villarreal, Province of Castellón, Spain. It is said that Francisco's father played flamenco and several other music styles on
his guitar. When his father was away working as a watchman at
the Convent of San Pascual, the child would take his father's guitar
and attempt to make the beautiful sounds he had heard. Francisco's nickname as a child was "Quiquet". As a child, he fell into an
irrigation channel and injured his eyes. Fearing that his son might
lose his sight completely, his father moved the family to Castellón
de la Plana to attend music classes because as a musician he
would be able to earn a living, even if blind. Both of his first music
teachers, Eugeni Ruiz and Manuel González, were blind.
In 1862, concert guitarist Julián Arcas, on tour in Castellón, heard
the young Tárrega play and advised Tárrega's father to allow Francisco to come to Barcelona to study with him. Tárrega's father
agreed, but insisted that his son take piano lessons as well. The
guitar was viewed as an instrument to accompany singers.
Continued on page 5
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C
lassic Guitars International Featured Luthiers
In alphabetical order
 Michel Brück - Germany
Double tops combining the tonal beauty of an old Hauser with the
power and focus of a fine Dammann...
Michel Brück's flawlessly crafted double top guitars easily achieve his
stated aim "to achieve a fusion of 'old' and 'new': the unique tonal
quality of old European guitars in combination with the power and
dynamics of an outstanding new technique". His guitars raise new expectations for the double top guitar.
 Gregory Byers - USA
David Russell and David Tanenbaum have both played/recorded using
a Byers guitar. Because of this his fan braced, elevated fingerboard,
instruments have achieved a well deserved reputation. Greg is now
also building fine lattice braced guitars that retain the traditional
warmth and beauty of his fan braced guitars, with the power and focus available through this contemporary design.
 Matthias Dammann - Germany
The ‘holy grail’ of contemporary double top guitars
One of the most sought after guitars in the world and played by a
number of world renowned concert artists, Dammann burst on the
scene with his double top design in the 80’s and his guitars quickly
became the ‘must have’ guitar for some of the finest players on the
planet.
 Dominique Delarue - France
Considered to be the ‘next Daniel Freiderich’ by many
Dominique builds in the South of France and, like Matthias Dammann and other builders, admits that he is strongly inspired by Daniel Friederich. Other well known French builders, and many dealers
and players, consider Delarue to be the most likely heir to the Freiderich legacy.
 Casimiro Lozano – Spain
Powerful Spanish guitars using a patented highly modified fan brace
system. When a close friend and concert artist told me he had basically 'retired' his Fleta because he enjoyed his Lozano guitar for concerts so much, I admit I was a bit skeptical. Now after hearing many
Lozano guitars I understand completely why he made this choice.
These guitars have the excellent power expected in lattice and double top guitars, but retaining the essential tonal beauty of a fine traditional Spanish guitar brace system.
To be continued
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WESTERN COLORADO
CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY
PRESENTS
Dr. Mary Kleinsorge
Singer, songwriter, classical guitarist
“IN HOMAGE TO JAMES SMITH”
Monday, May 20, 2013
7:00 p.m.
Back Porch Music
995 Independent Ave
Grand Junction, CO, 81505
$10.00 at the door (general admission)
Limited seating; purchase your ticket in advance at Back Porch Music
For more information contact
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Continued from page 2
page 5
However, Tárrega had to stop his lessons shortly after, when Arcas left for a concert
tour abroad. Although Tárrega was only ten years old, he ran away and tried to start a
musical career on his own by playing in coffee houses and restaurants in Barcelona.
He was soon found and brought back to his father, who had to make great sacrifices
to advance his son's musical education. Three years later, in 1865, he ran away again,
this time to Valencia where he joined a gang of gypsies. His father looked for him and
brought him back home once more, but he ran away a third time, again to Valencia.
By his early teens, Tárrega was proficient on both the piano and the guitar. For a
time, he played with other musicians at local engagements to earn money, but eventually he returned home to help his family.
Tárrega entered the Madrid conservatory in 1874, under the sponsorship of a wealthy merchant named Antonio Canesa. He had brought along with him a recently purchased guitar, made in Seville by Antonio de
Torres. Its superior sonic qualities inspired him both in his playing and in his view of the instrument's compositional potential. At the conservatory, Tárrega studied composition under Emilio Arrieta who convinced
him to focus on guitar and abandon the idea of a career with the piano. By the end of the 1870s, Tárrega
was teaching the guitar (Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet as well as Daniel Fortea (1878–1953) were pupils of
his) and giving regular concerts. Tárrega received much acclaim for his playing and began traveling to other
areas of Spain to perform. By this time he was composing his first works for guitar, which he played in addition to works of other composers.
In 1881, Tárrega played in the Opera Theatre in Lyon and then the Paris Odeon, in the bicentenary of the
death of Pedro Calderón de la Barca. He also played in London, but he liked neither the language nor the
weather. There is a story about his visit to England. After a concert, some people saw that the musician was
in low spirits. "What is the matter, maestro?" they asked him. "Do you miss home? Your family, perhaps?"
They advised him to capture that moment of sadness in his music. Thus he conceived the theme of one of
his most memorable works, Lágrima (literally meaning teardrop). After playing in London he came back to
Novelda for his wedding. At Christmas 1882, Tárrega married María José Rizo. To enlarge his guitar repertory, he soon began transcribing piano works of Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn and others, and, no doubt,
to make use of his considerable knowledge of keyboard music. Tárrega and his wife moved to Madrid, gaining their living by teaching privately and playing concerts, but after the death of an infant daughter during
the winter, Maria Josefa de los Angeles Tárrega Rizo, they settled permanently in Barcelona in 1885. Among
his friends in Barcelona were Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Joaquín Turina and Pablo Casals.
Francisco Tárrega and María José (María Josefa) Rizo had three more children: Paquito (Francisco), Maria
Rosatia (María Rosalia) (best known as Marieta) and Concepción. On a concert tour in Valencia shortly afterward, Tárrega met a wealthy widow, Conxa Martinez, who became a valuable patron to him. She allowed
him and his family use of a house in Barcelona, where he would write the bulk of his most popular works.
Later she took him to Granada, where the guitarist conceived the theme for "Recuerdos de la Alhambra",
which he composed on his return and dedicated to his friend Alfred Cottin, a Frenchman who had arranged
his Paris concerts. From the later 1880s up to 1903, Tárrega continued composing, but limited his concerts
to Spain. In 1900, Tárrega visited Algiers, where he heard a repetitive rhythm played on an Arabian drum.
The following morning he composed "Danza Mora" based on that rhythm. In about 1902, he cut his fingernails and created a sound that would become typical of those guitarists associated with his school. The following year he went on tour to Italy, giving highly successful concerts in Rome, Naples, and Milan.
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WESTERN
COLORADO
CLASSICAL GUITAR
SOCIETY
GRAND JUNCTION ,
COLORADO
Correspondence
Mailing Address
2001 Bison Court
Grand Junction, Co
81507
Or
[email protected]
Visit our web site
westerncoloradoclassicalguitar
society.org
Guitar Gazette
KK Publishing
The Guitar Gazzette
W
estern Colorado Classical Guitar Society
Board Members
Javier de los Santos—President
Classical guitarist Javier de los Santos began his formal music studies in 1998 in
Guitar Performance under Francisco
Javier Muro Guevara at the Unidad
Académica de Música de la Universidad
Autónoma de Zacatecas (UAMUAZ) in the
State of Zacatecas, México. In 2006, under the guidance of Mr. Eric vanDiver
Nohe, Javier earned his Bachelor of Arts
Degree in Guitar Performance at Colorado
Mesa University in Grand Junction, CO.
Javier holds a Master of Music Degree in
Guitar Performance from the University
of Denver's Lamont School of Music
nowned Maestro Ricardo Iznaola.
studying
with
re-
Javier has performed extensively in different places, including: the XV
Semana Cultural de Zacatecas in Zacatecas, Mexico, various recitals
and performances in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico and other municipalities, Spain, Maine, Texas, Arizona, Utah and in different venues in the
State of Colorado, USA. Currently Javier lives in Grand Junction, CO
where he teaches private guitar lessons and is a Guitar Instructor at
Colorado Mesa University.
Deadline for article Javier is First Place Winner of the "2009 Denver Classical Guitar Society Solo Debut Competition."
submission is the
15th of each month. Kathy Kain - Secretary
[email protected]
Having grown up in a musical environment, I attended the Lamont
School of Music at the University of Denver with an emphasis in
flute. After a thirty-year career in educational administration, I am
now retired. My husband, Bill, plays classical guitar and so I hear
classical guitar music on a daily basis. I serve on the WCCGS board
because I want to further the awareness of this beautiful music.
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John Dobbs —Treasurer
I’ve always enjoyed music, of many different
styles, but particularly classical and guitar. I
have played guitar and other instruments
on and off for most of my life – mostly selftaught and not very seriously. Over the past
few years I’ve restarted my musical education – arriving at a point where I am a student of classical guitar.
The reason I’m helping the WCCGS is to promote the classical guitar
and its music here in Western Colorado, including performances and
instruction. There’s nothing more exciting and engaging than live performance of any art – especially when you are involved yourself – and
this is an art that anyone can participate in.
I work in IT at Rocky Mountain Health Plans. I am a child of the
manned space program (Sputnik, Telstar, the Mercury Missions and so
on) and have spent my entire career in computers and communications.
Don Neal—Vice President
Originally hailing from Denver, I moved to Grand Junction in 1985. I
transferred from the State Health Department in Denver. I worked at
the Colorado State branch lab at Mesa County Health Dept. to add environmental and clinical microbiology to the department. I retired in
2004 with 28 years of service. At that time, I decided to realize one of
my great passions, the study of the classical guitar.
Music has always been a very important to me. I started playing piano at six years of age and have continued for most of my life. However, as much as I love piano, the guitar has an intimacy and a unique
array of effects that no other western stringed instrument can duplicate. I realized this when I was in my early college years and have
been captivated ever since.
I enjoy jazz and have volunteered as a programmer with KAFM community radio, 88.1, since 1999. You can hear my show monthly on
Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:00.