Concert Venues (1)

Concert venues vary.

A lot.

My most regular type of venue is a church; some of these are wonderful, beautiful buildings with fine acoustics. Others are less so.

The worst type of venue, especially for an instrumentalist, is a cold one. Thankfully, there seem to be less of them these days, but it is horrible when your fingers are freezing to the strings, and you are trying to keep up with the band, and all you can see are clouds of breath.

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but the weirdest venue was probably at the Greenbelt festival many years ago. I was in a duo called "Simeon and John". We were booked to play at an old church which was about 10 minutes walk from the main site. That was the first downer, as we were convinced that nobody would want to bother coming all that way to see us. Then, when we got there, it was just going dark, and we realised that there was no electricity! 

We had to get changed in complete darkness, before an official type person came, and rigged up a single light which shone directly at us as we entered the performance area. It was only at the end of our first piece, that the rapturous applause told us that actually the place was packed. It turned out to be a fantastic concert, and a highlight of our year.

See you shortly

J.

Segovia

I had the enormous privilege of seeing Andres Segovia give a guitar recital.

It was one of his last appearances, he must have been about 90 years old, and he almost staggered on to the platform at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. It was the autumn of 1980.

Though he was unsteady on his feet, his fingers were as nimble as ever, darting across the strings, and up and down the fretboard, as he treated us to classic arrangements of Bach lute suites, Spanish tone poems, Catalan lullabies and all the rest.

It wasn't a perfect performance, but wonderful all the same.

Some people have directed criticism towards the work of Segovia, but I don't have much time for their arguments. Segovia gave the classical guitar a platform when it was due to sink without trace, with his extensive concert tours and imaginative arrangements.

His legacy was carried on by such eminent guitarists as Julian Bream, John Williams, David Russell, Narcisso Yepes, etc., etc. Twenty years ago the classical guitar had a high profile due in part to the work of these (and other) fine musicians.

Now, unfortunately, the instrument has become more obscure; I have even met musicians who are amazed when they hear the guitar, because they have heard nothing like it before.

I am trying to do my bit, in however small a way, to make this beautiful instrument better known.

First I made the recording "Guitarra!" (available from CDBaby.com, and also on iTunes); next, I am planning to undertake some concerts which show off the guitar in an "audience-friendly" way. I am searching for venues, so let me know if you have any information!

Segovia left the stage of the Free Trade Hall that evening to rapturous, grateful applause from his loyal and devoted following. Sadly, the Free Trade Hall itself is no longer a concert hall - it is now a hotel and the Halle orchestra have moved to the Bridgewater Hall (another fine venue) - but that is for another blog.

Like the hall, the maestro will be remembered fondly by many of us; not only was he a virtuoso, he took pieces and put his heart into them, before offering them to audiences around the world. Every piece he touched, became beautiful music in his hands.

Cheers

J.

Gigs Completed

Those three gigs in Derbyshire are all in the past now.

I am happy to report that each one went really well; the music felt good, and we improved as the week progressed. We played to good audiences, and our presentation was well-received at each venue. Success!

We were also well looked after everywhere we went, so our first week of 2008 "on the road" will form a happy memory.

I now feel that the year has properly started, and we can really go for it now.

I am hoping to do around 30 gigs during 2008 - I will accept more, mind you!

I will keep you posted on how we do!

Keep plucking!

John.

Gigs and roadies

We have some gigs coming up next week in Derbyshire.

I love doing gigs.

Gigs are cool.

But... I wish we had a roadie.

I know, it sounds a bit lazy, for a classical guitarist to want a roadie. I mean, guitars can't be that heavy.

Well, we go with a full sound system: three guitars, violin, recorder (okay the recorder is manageable) cd and md players, projector, laptop, stands, speakers, leads, a table, box of cds, mics and stands, guitar stands, screen, etc., etc. The whole lot completely fills my Fiat Doblo, sometimes I even need a roofbox.

So, it takes a while to setup; that's not the hard part, when you are full of anticipation for the concert, excited and hoping it will go well.

No, it's at the end of the night - that's the hard part. You are tired, just about coming down from your high after meeting people and (hopefully) selling loads of CDs. Then, you turn around and look at the stage... and there's all that stuff to pack up. 

If only we had a roadie.

Then we would feel like "proper" musicians.

One day, I guess.

At least... we've got some gigs, right?

Wahooooo

I promise, the next blog will be more positive!

Take care

John.

Welcome!

Welcome to my Blog - this is the first one!

What does "Plucking Nylon" refer to?

The classical (or "Spanish") guitar is fitted with nylon, rather than steel, strings, which are gentler on your soft fingers. More importantly, the sound produced is sweeter, and much more beautiful (in my opinion, anyway!)

"There is nothing more beautiful than the sound of the guitar, save perhaps the sound of two guitars..."

- this is a quote from the composer Franz Schubert (I think) and I am paraphrasing (let me know if you have the correct version) - but you get what he means.

This is why the first track on my "Guitarra!" CD is a guitar duet, by C. Gottlieb Schiedler.

Well, I better leave it there. I plan to do these blogs regularly, about twice a week, or a bit less when I am out doing gigs.

Take care

John.