learn classical guitar

John (not ‘Star Wars’) Williams was in concert! It was great! Rat is almost speechless.

Concerto in D Major, Op. 3, No. 9 (“L’’estro armonico”)
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro (Vivaldi/Bach)
Arranged by John Williams

Two Sonata (D. Scarlatti)
Arranged by John Williams

Valses poeticos, H. 147 (Granados)
Arranged by John Williams

Torre Bermeja (Serenata) from 12 Piezas caracteristicas,
Op. 92, No. 12 (Albéniz)
Arranged by John Williams

Notes in the Margin (John Williams)

La Catedral
Lento (Preludio saudade)
Andante religioso
Allegro solemne(Agustin Barrios Mangoré)

Djilile (Peter Sculthorpe)

Theme from Schindler’s List (John T. Williams)
Arranged by John Williams

Theme from Cinema Paradiso (Ennio Morricone)
Arranged by John Williams

Cavatina from The Deer Hunter (Stanley Myers)
Arranged by John Williams

Prelude to a Song
Open End
Song without Words
Hello Francis (John Williams)

Carolan’s Concerto and Irish Tunes (Traditional)
Arranged by John Williams

Hello Francis was my favourite piece played. It was composed in African style, for a close friend from Cameroon (Francis Bebey).

I went to this concert with a young pianist. He was entranced. (And he loved the Cameroon piece as well as the Albeniz.)

The difficult mid-piece passage that shifts positions with each bar is being tackled and mastered faster than I would have expected, as there are distinct left-hand patterns I can follow for most of it. The torn thumb I treated with this salve that is meant to soothe cow udders… teat cream? I got it at Lee Valley Tools. I am told it is good on the soles of winter feet. Bag Balm – that’s what it is. The balm took a lot of the stiffness out of the healing wound. Look, it says here on the tin: FOR BUNCHES, CAKED BAGS, CUTS, SORE TEATS CHAPPING AND INFLAMMATION.
Progress today?

is a short piece by Mauro Giuliani, beautiful and melodious but difficult. It’s extra hard now that there hasn’t been a lesson for two weeks, and in the interim I’ve torn my thumb. March Break will interrupt the learning progress next week too, it appears.
It’s one of those nasty cuts that looks like it’s healing nicely, but one wrong bend of the thumb-joint opens it again, deeply. And unless I’m dehydrated (cardiac meds can sometimes do that) water immersion’s pretty much going to precipitate a yowl.

The only thing worse than this kind of cut is the kind in which the top of the thumb is sliced off – usually in the kitchen with a dull knife-blade – one gets that horrible sensory shiver when one realises one’s fingerprints are sawn off. It’s an unpleasant, queasy, papery feeling.

Then again, cardboard cuts also come to mind; they are their own type of hell. I have illustration board that’s a good eighth of an inch thick, and a slow slide of the thumb across the edge of that is a special torture.

there’s progress on a new piece by Guiliani. It’s two pages long and I am finally getting the idea of playing in two voices. Another curiosity: my fingernails are soft so they’re hard to grow for the right hand.

Linear progress is key for satisfaction of the adult brain. I have explained this unfortunate state of being to my instructor. If there is no perception of linear progress, I will cease musical endeavour and go futz around at the mall instead. He nods, furrows brow.

This weekend, the last four bars of the Sor are being smoothed and ironed.
I am beginning a heavily-ornamented arrangement of Espanoleta (Gaspar Sanz).

I have an audience (a blue-jay has perched outside the sun-room window) for today’s practice.

I am practicing like a champ-i-on!

from the Sor, which tests the limits of the left-hand. I am told this is common.
Class is over for the summer, and I have several things to study from Grade Five.
Some Bach. Aguado. More Sor. Can’t help lovin’
dat Sor.

is my friend. I am now down to the last four bars.

I am learning, as a summer project, a very fine study by Fernando Sor. I have a recording of Julian Bream playing this and I’ll use it to listen and learn. It’s frustrating to be a slow learner.