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Why Classical Guitar?
Have you finished planning your wedding reception, company
party, or other special event and still feel like something is missing? Providing the gift of live classical guitar music will brighten up your occasion giving your guests a truly enjoyable and memorable
experience. The guitar is by far the most popular instrument in the world and the classical guitar gives the listener the full spectrum of what the instrument is capable of. With a rich, complex, and
beautiful sound, this single instrument speaks directly to the heart and can fill a room with the kind of ambience needed to make your event a success.
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About the Music
Classical guitar performance is an art form that
has evolved over the last several hundred years; however, it is still relatively undiscovered. The classical guitar is an acoustic instrument but it is constructed very differently than the acoustic guitar
more common throughout America. The classical guitar has nylon strings instead of steel strings on acoustic guitars, the body is slightly smaller, and the neck is slightly wider. The main difference in
sound is the classical guitar produces a warm harp-like tone and the acoustic guitar produces a more metallic tone. While the acoustic guitar in America is commonly used for rhythm or lead, the classical
guitar is used for polyphonic music, which contains multiple voices and parts including a bass, melody, and inner voices. In order to play polyphonic music and produce a good tone, the notes on the
classical guitar are played with the fingers of the right hand, never a pick. Tone is very important in the classical guitar and much training is required to
achieve a good tone. Classical guitar music is written down on a score and then learned through note reading where most other guitar music is composed through improvisation and then learned
by ear. While the guitar is one of the easiest instruments to learn the basics, the classical guitar is one of the most difficult to master as a concert instrument.
The music regularly performed is not exclusively from the classical era but also from the Renaissance
, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary eras. The guitar is an ancestor of the lute and was conceived in the Baroque era that was the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. While the
lute already had a sophisticated technique, the guitar was a new instrument and needed to be developed. It was really in the Classical era that was the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries that the guitar was developed as a concert instrument. Among the most important founding fathers of early guitar technique and repertoire were Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Ferdinando Carulli
(1770-1841), and Mauro Giuliani (1780-1829). Each composed a set of etudes or studies for the guitar along with a large variety of pieces appropriate for the concert stage. They toured around
Europe and expanded the audience for the instrument with their virtuosity.
While the guitar was played throughout Europe, it was Spain where it found its permanent home.
Influences of Spain are seen throughout the guitar repertoire. There have been many beautiful works composed for the guitar by Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909), Joaquín
Rodrigo (1901-1999), Agustín Barrios (1885-1944), Heitor Villa Lobos (1887-1959), and many more. Music from non-guitar composers including Johann Sebastian Bach (1650-1750), Isaac Albeniz (1860
-1909), George Frederic Handel (1685-1750), and many other major composers are commonly played by transcribing the music for the guitar.
For a more in depth look at guitar history log on to www.guitarramagazine.com.
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