The theme “El Maestro: Tradition of the Masters” marked the 5th New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, focusing on guitar pedagogy.  The five-day event, featured in The New York Ti

Bruce Holzman & Eliot Fisk at tribute

mes, included a tribute to the head of Florida State University’s guitar program, Bruce Holzman and evening faculty concerts featuring guest artists Eliot Fisk, Stephen Robinson, Adam Holzman, William Carter, Michael Chapdelaine, Ricardo Iznaola, Ricardo Cobo and the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo.

Michael Newman, the prgram's Co-Artistic Director along with Laura Oltman first met Bruce Holzman at the New York apartment of their teacher, Albert Valdes Blain, in 1971.  “Laura studied with Bruce in the mid 1970’s, which is when I first met her at Florida State University after traveling to Tallahassee to play a concert,” Newman says.  “We have Bruce to thank for bringing us together

Michael Newman handing Bruce Holzman his Lifetime Achievement Award, a pen printed with the Mel Bay logo.

so many years ago.  Next year Laura and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.  Bringing so many of Bruce’s proteges—now international performers, recording artists and university teachers themselves—to New York to honor Bruce was a great privilege.”

Nearly one hundred participants and faculty from all over the world—Russia, Brazil, Scotland, Bermuda, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico took part in a variety of classes.  Music theory professor Christopher Park lead a discussion on approaching repetition in 19th century musical forms.  Baroque guitarist and scholar William Carter i

Bruce Holzman with his real Lifetime Achievement Award.

ntroduced 17th century transcriptions of Gaspar Sanz in a lecture entitled, “Ornamentation for Guitarists.”  Matthew Dunne, who teaches at Marshall University in West Virginia, offered a course in arranging solutions for jazz guitar that included basic chord voicing exercises, voice leading and common jazz progressions.  Dunne’s work, Gypsy Flower, can be heard on the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet’s Grammy Award-winning CD, Guitar Heroes (Telarc.)

Leo Welch, who serves as assistant dean at Florida State University’s School of Music, presented a class entitled “The Value of Informed Guitar Performance”- a pragmatic application of music theory.  The panel, “Trends in Pedagogy”, featured guest speakers Bruce Holzman, Lily Afshar, Laura Oltman, Adam Holzman, Michael Chapdelaine, Roger Allen Cope, Leo Welch and one impromptu, drop-in guest trying to hide in the back row, Ben Verdery.

Lily Afshar with student.

Bruce Holzman advises, “It is better to play a simple piece to demonstrate control.”  He uses Aaron Shearer’s Method, and Scott Tennant’s Pumping Nylon series, in addition to Carcassi, Sor, Aguado and Carlevaro studies.  Holzman also suggests using a diverse number of textbooks because he finds there is only so much information that can be distilled from any one book.

Lily Afshar prefers her auditioning students to perform three pieces in three different styles to demonstrate a range in repertoire.  Lily told the audience that she takes students for a long walk outside at the University of Memphis to sing their pieces and finds this frees them up to become better musicians.
 

Roger Allen Cope leading participants in tuning.

Michael Chapdelaine approaches teaching through imagining putting himself in the place of the student and finding an empathic way to communicate what needs to be learned.  Adam Holzman sees teaching as a constant learning experience and finds it most productive to specify what needs to be accomplished in each lesson.  From the back row, Verdery put in a vote of his favorite teaching resources: the EGTA (The European Guitar Teachers Association), Gerald Garcia’s work, Frederic Noad, Suzuki, Frank Longay and Norma McNamara.

“You have to find the skills of motivation,” Adam Holzman added.  “You will find some people you cannot motivate but if you

Students with guitars.

can reach eight out of ten students, you’re doing a good job.  The best players are very self-motivated because they WANT to get better.  And the difference between the good student and the not-so-good student is always self-discipline.”

For the tribute and roast of Bruce Holzman’s career, Michael Newman tearfully presented Bruce Holzman with a Lifetime Achievement Award, consisting of a black ballpoint pen with the Mel Bay logo.  Laura Oltman came to the rescue with the real award plaque.

Ricardo Iznaola, who heads the guitar department at the University of Denver, presented “Training for Facility:  A Workshop in Technical Awareness”, a

Ricardo Cobo with Humphrey's painted guitar.

comprehensive and well-received discussion of essential components of learning and teaching the guitar.  His book, Ricardo Iznaola: On Practicing, is available through the Mel Bay catalog.

Tim Brookes, author of Guitar: An American Life (Grove Press), presented a panel called “Guitar Makers and Their Secrets”.  Brookes had asked guitar maker Rick Davis of Vermont to create a new guitar to replace his beloved guitar, which was destroyed by airline baggage handlers.  Brookes’ book delves into this story along with an exploration of the history and symbolism of the guitar in America.  Davis displayed various beautiful wood backs he uses for guitars and demonstrated the tapping technique for discerning tonal quality of each wood.

Standing ovation for Bruce Holzman's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Luthier Thomas Humphrey unveiled his latest guitar creation, a guitar which looks like a normal 6-string classical from the front with a spectacular laminated painting encompassing the entire back.  The painting, rendered by New York artist Tamara Codor, features three women acrobats in mid-flight, rendered in art deco flair with a palette of ochres, greens, yellow and rich copper hues matching the neck of the guitar.  Humphrey’s unique construction for this guitar, which differs slightly from his Millennium models in order to accommodate the painting, has resulted in an enhanced resonance.  (For a peek at additional paintings:  www.thomashumphrey.com.)

Bruce and Adam Holzman.

“Some really great guitar ears who have seen and played this guitar have told me they think it is the best sounding ever,” he confides.  Humphrey plans on making more of these guitars as unique collector’s items with each painting following vivid, one-of-a-kind themes derived from classic mythology.  Codor, who studied art in the Loire Valley in France, was recently commission to design the interior of a new store for the exclusive jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels.

The sold-out evening concerts kicked off with a program by The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo with Sor’s Fantasy and Dance in the Spanish Style and a New York premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’ new piece, memory:SWELLS.  The duo closed with three Silly Songs by Rami Vamos.  Ricardo Cobo showcased his powerful playing style with Leo Brouwer’s El Decameron Negro, Dilermando Reis’ Dos Valsas (Paschoito), Horacio Salgán’s tango A Don Agustín Bardi, Angel Villoldo’s El Choclo,closing with Leo Brouwer’s Un Dia de Noviembre.

Moving to Columbia University with help of participants Christina Elliott and Patrick Sise of Maryland.

William Carter played a selection of Gaspar Sanz, Francesco Corbetta and Cumbees Santiago de Murcia on his eggshell-light Baroque guitar, transporting the audience back in time with a tune once played in a king’s bedchamber.

Michael Chapdelaine played fingerstyle arrangements on steel guitar:  Jimi Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower, Marvin Gaye’s Heard It Through the Grapevine, and John Lennon’s Come Together, in addition to his gorgeous fingerstyle piece The Cowboy Waltz and another original composition, Portrait de Femme.

Juan Carlos Rodriguez of Bogota, Colombia, putting guitar playing to good use.

Adam Holzman played a program consisting of Pietro Paolo Meli’s Capriccio, Roland Dyen’s Saudade #3, Mark Cruz’ Triptych and Sergio Assad’s Three Greek Letters.  For the second half, Ricardo Iznaola performed Eduardo Sainz de la Maza’s Three Interludes from Platero y Yo, followed by his own composition, Preludio y Fandango de Leonardo, Maurice Ravel’s Forlane, ending with Manuel de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance.

The final evening concert was held at Columbia University’s Lerner Hall because Mannes was closed for the upcoming Independence Day holiday weekend.  Stephen Robinson performed Phillip Houghton’s Kinkachoo, I Love You, followed by Sor’s Grand Solo, Op. 14, Agustín Barrios Mangoré’s Julia Florida, John Doan’s Farewell and Albéniz’ Mallorca and Torre Bermeja.

Eliot Fisk performed a vigorous program of Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje pour le tombeau de Debussy, Reginao Sainz de la Maza’s Three Pieces, George Rochberg’s American Bouquet (including a standout Notre Dame Blues), Domenico Scarlatti’s Three Sonatas, ending with Nicolo Paganini’s Two Capricci.

Continuing a program begun last year, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo hosted a young artist masterclass with guest instructor, Brazilian guitarist and composer Arthur Kampela, who was a featured performer in last year’s “Brazil and Beyond.”  The seminar closed with a final set of ensemble concerts by participants that was free and open to the public.

Young artists with faculty (Mariano Aguirre, Arthur Kampela, Leah Roblin, David Gonzalez, Laura Oltman and Michael Newman.)

The 6th New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, July 5-9, 2006, will focus on “New York:  Performers and Teachers from The Big Apple,” and will include Sharon Isbin, Benjamin Verdery, David Starobin, David Leisner, The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo, Dominic Frasca, Jorge Morel, and Mariano Aguirre.  For more information, log onto www.mannes.edu/guitar.

The seminar would like to acknowledge the support of its major sponsors—Mel Bay Publications, The Augustine Foundation, The D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts, Guitar Salon International, Fretsonly.com and The Musical Heritage Society plus the volunteers, the staff of Mannes College and Columbia University, and the year-round efforts of Mariano Aguirre, the seminar’s administrative coordinator who teaches guitar and theory in the Mannes Preparatory Division.