The Guitar Gathering provides an opportunity for players of all levels to
perform before an audience of like minded guitar aficionados. Types of
repertoire are suggested for each Gathering but all types of classical
guitar music are welcomed. The experience is generally useful preparation
for recital, exam or less formal performances (family and friends). The
aim is for all players to be given the opportunity to participate. Non
players are very welcome. Time and location details for Gatherings are given
on the website. The Yellow room at the Convent has a fabulous acoustic.
Extended performances say over 20 minutes, can be accommodated by
arrangement. Please contact Guitar Gathering convener via the CGSV contact
form.

Guitar Gatherings are a members' event.
If you would like to sample a guitar gathering first
before committing to membership, you are welcome to do so.
You can become a member by following the direction here: Membership
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The Next Guitar Gathering for 2010 will be held on

Saturday 2nd October from 2.00 - 4.00pm in the

Yellow Room at the Abbotsford Convent

Theme - Flamenco

Map of location:

http://www.abbotsfordconvent.com.au/visitor-information
There is a parking facility across the road from the convent.
The parking machine requires $4 for all day- preferably in $1 or $2 coins (come prepared).
There is also parking in the nearby streets, if you don't mind walking.

Each month there is a particular focus, just to give added incentive.
However these are purely suggestions so feel free to come and play what you are working on at the moment.
You may play solo or in ensemble

The purpose of these gatherings is:

• to help guitarists exercise their ability to play in front of other people

• to share favourite pieces with others.

• to share ideas, hear different interpretations

• to increase our own list of pieces we enjoy playing

• meet like minded people

• join others in duet/ensemble playing

• to rehearse exam pieces in front of audience

Tuesday 2 March (see the report below)
Sth American:
Pujol, Lauro, Barrios, Abril, Powell…

Tuesday 6 April (see the report below)
Baroque:
Bach, Rameau, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, DE Visee, Boccherini, Weiss, Soler….

Wednesday 12 May (see the report below)
Elizabethan:
Praetorius, Dowland, Holborne, Byrd, Ponce……

Tuesday 15 June: ( see the report below)
Australian composers:
Murray, Charlton, Houghton, Westlake, Sculthorpe

Wednesday 14 July: (see the report below)
Female composers:
Inglis, Presti, Walker, Salvador, Lutiens….

Tuesday 10 August: (see the report below)
Member's compositions:

Saturday 4 September 2-4 pm
Tango:
Traditional, Piazzola, Pujol, Albeniz…..

Saturday 2 October 2-4 pm
Flamenco:

Wednesday10 November: 7-9 pm
Tuning that is not standard for the guitar (scordatura):
Domeniconi, York, African ....

Tuesday 7 December: 7-9 pm
Ensemble:
Duets/trios/quartets

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Guitar Gathering Report of Tuesday 10th August
Members Compositions

It was a dark and stormy night again just like last time. We assembled, a small but choice group, in the Yellow Room
of the convent where the air is like champagne and every guitar sounds like a Fleta.

Lach played his own fine composition entitled Dawn. An introductory passage in harmonics leading to a fine toned line
with interesting rhythmical and harmonic developments.
Professor Paul Nash played his own piece "By the Graveside" written for the re-dedication of the grave of
Michael Touhy, a leader of the Eureka Stockade rebellion at its 150th anniversary.
Roger played Na Kolotoca by Stepan Rak and Sicilienne by Carulli. A firm favourite with the crowd.
Those zany knockabout rascals, Davy Crotchet and Sammy Breve played duos, Capricho Catalan (again!) and a
composition in west coast cool jazz mode by Sammy entitled Gone to Water.
Further pieces given fine performances were Marley's Ghost by A York and "Prelude No. 1" by Villa Lobos played by Lach.
The professor then played "Verde Alma", by Maximo Pujol written for his wife Cecilia, from the work "Quatro Pieces Cristallinas"
followed by "Condombe en Me", Prelude No 5 by Maximo Pujol and "Madronos" by Federico Moreno-Torroba

Recording facilities were available for the first time at request of participants and some of the night's music recorded for posterity.

Thanks to all participants and supporters. Do join us next time.

Sammy Breve Hon. Convenor and Moderator CGSV-GG
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Guitar Gathering Report of Wednesday 14th July
Theme, Female Composers.

It was a dark and stormy night. Nonetheless a few diehard aficionados assembled in the Yellow room
of the Abbotsford Convent where the brilliant acoustics turn the thinnest tone into a Breamish splendour.
The subject for the evening's recitals was Female Composers.
Yue Guan kicked off with the old favourite Romance (aka Jeux interdits) by Anon (surely a female).
The familiar piece was enlivened by introduction and a coda after the styles of Hettie Villa Lobos and Augusta Barrios Mangore.
Bill Sinclair played two lively rags by Elizabeth Cotton and entertained us with an account of Ms Cotton's musical
discovery as a maid in the Seeger household. And also describing her unorthodox technique, left handed with
conventional guitar, therefore upside down.
Bill also played two pieces by Maria Estaban de Valera, Nana and Intermezzo.
Sammy played two pieces by Annette Kruisbrink, Venus Blues and Nothing to Divide.
Having exhausted our grasp of the repertoire from the distaff side, the evening proceeded with various
pieces dredged up from memory and Bill's scores including
Catedrale Barrios
Recuerdos del Old Hombre Treeger
Pieces from Bill's book
Theme for an Imaginary TV Soap S Breve
Elegy for Rita D de Vreis
Thanks to all participants and supporters.

Sammy Breve Hon Conv CGSV_GG
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GG June 15th theme Australian Composers
Warm to the Music!

How apt it was to be greeted by three possums at the front gates of the Convent on the evening that had an Australian theme!
The winter evening was unusually warm and wet and seduced the fragrances of indigenous flora to perfume our pathway to the doors of the Yellow Room.

Welcome to Wil and Jody , first time to a guitar gathering,
and thanks to Wil, Barb and Roger for being a great audience.

This is what was heard.

Peter Altmeier-Mort - Exerpt (small part) from "Daybreak" -duet
played by one of the half-beats(quarter-beat?) and Liz, whilst waiting for everyone to arrive

Liz
Peter Altmeier -Mort - Adagio
Ken Murray -Cross currents

Half-beats
played an Australian arranged piece by Angelina Ellis - Exeter
Prior to their performance both beats applied "fast fret" (wrong-note-begone) to their strings in one long stroke.
Followed by
Sammy breve's "cunningly arranged" for 2 guitars -Capricio Catalan - Albeniz
(coffee on the beach -they like to call it)
Arrangements by Len Williams (John William's dad)
Album of Spanish and Sth American folksongs -Salonica (Possible typo in the guitar I part 6th bar , third beat , b natural instead of Bb.? )

Bill
December rain - Anthony Garcia
Richard Charlton"Based on the opening of an old Scottish waltz called 'Gareloch' by Archibald MacNeill commissioned by Lloyd Gosling
Waltzing Matilda arranged by Richard Charlton
Richard Lenz Prelude and Equinox

Jody Fisher
Her own Arrangement of Granada - Albeniz
Dowland -Lachrimae Pavan
Bach - Allemande 998
Tarrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Jody showed us an exercise technique to assist in playing even tremolo. Many thanks!!

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May Elizabethan era (1558-1603)

Music was highly important to those that lived in the Elizabethan Era. Music came before maths, and children were encouraged to delve into intricate compositions and perform melodies of extravagant and fanciful design……..on the lute.
It was the time when music took place on the stage to amplify the atmosphere and emotions of plays. The great Shakespeare expressed his genius during this era of enormous change. His plays are filled with delightful songs and musical references.

"Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones;
Make tigers tame and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands."
~ William Shakespeare

Many instruments were invented, but……. the most famous was the lute.
Our evening at the convent was filled with music. ….. no time for words.


The Half Beats; Davey Crochet and Sammy-Breve
"Men of few words are the best men" ~ William Shakespeare

Dowland - My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home
John Dowland: My Lord Chamberlain's Galliard ("for two to play on one lute")
Purcell (1659 - 1695) not quite Elizabethan but...Purcell's grandmother was Elizabethan
Purcell - Prelude and Duet for the witches from Dido and Aeneas
Purcell - Witches: "but ere we this perform"
Ford - Mr. Southcote's Pavan and Galliard
Anon: La Rossignol ("The Nightingale")
Recercate Concertante written by two people 100 years apart - Francesca de la Romana and Joanne Matelart

Valentina
"Action is eloquence." ~ William Shakespeare

Johnson - Allemande
Milan - Pavane

Trevor
"If music be the food of love, play on;" ~ William Shakespeare

Anthony Holborne -Playfellow
Dowland - Fortune
Dowland - Frog Galliard (pumping Nylon - Scott Tennant)
Dowland - Melancholy Galliard
Tuning for lute sound - suggest capo to G tuning 3 semitones higher and not F#

Bill
"Orpheus with his lute made trees
And the mountain tops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing". ~ William Shakespeare

Marco dall'Aquila - Ricercar in D
Yates - de la Traditore in A minor
Dowland - Earl of Essex Galliard, "Can you excuse my wrongs" (the head in question was chopped off, so the wrongs were not excused) The text of this galliard is thought to be by Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, who became queen Elizabeth's famous court favourite.
John Dowland - Come Again Sweet Love Doth Now Invite
Dowland - Lachrimae

Peter - with his LUTE
"As sweet and musical as bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony." ~ William Shakespeare

Anon - Packington's Pound
Kemp - Dance a jig from London to Norway
Dowland - Wilson's Wilde
Anon - Watkins Ale
Dowland - Tarleton's Riserrectione
Queen Elizabeth's galliard D'arcy's galliard reissued as QEG to gain favour

Ian (from country Victoria)
"If music be the food of love, play on."~ William Shakespeare

Cesare Negri (1535-1604) Bianco Fiore
Ian's own composition in Elizabethan style, as yet unnamed

Alan
"If you can look into the seeds of time and say, which grain will grow, and which will not, speak then to me."- William Shakespeare

Alan chose to shift us to a much later time with
Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) - Asturias

Our merriment and performances were observed by Warwick (from the Western District), Roger, Shiao and Roger.
"A hundred thousand welcomes: I could weep, and I could laugh; I am light and heavy: Welcome."
- William Shakespeare

Epilogue
"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare

"He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute" Richard III - William Shakespeare

The evening of romancing the Elizabethan era concluded and mov'd by sweet sounds we capered out into the starry night of Abbotsford Convent.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
~ William Shakespeare

Barb, and the closing epilogue by Sammy Breve
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April Baroque - Guitar Gathering

"Baroque" is derived from the Italian word "barraco", meaning bizarre…..
The baroque period was a time when artists were encouraged to astonish, to dazzle, and to create illusions. Take a look at this assortment of dazzlement: a mix of solos and duets.

Carulli opus 90 -1 Nocturne (not baroque -1771 - 1841)
Zipolli - Fugue in A
Pachelbel - Fugue in E
Wolff Jacob Lauffensteiner - Fugue in A
and not a fugue Marello - Siciliana

De Visée - Minuet in D major and Minuet in D minor
Ponce (in the style of Bach) - Gavotte in A minor
Ponce (in the style of Scarlatti) - Gavotte
Bach - Minuet in A (from the Anna Magdalena Book)
Bach - Minuet in G major
Bach - half of the two part invention in A minor
Hasse - Aria
Bach - From the 2nd suite BWV 997 - Prelude and Sarabande

What an evening!! And to our surprise …………………
Dan McKay dropped by to see how the guitar gatherings were going and wanted to test out his recent revisiting of Bach. He was using Bach as brain gym, both left and right hemispheres, logic and creativity needed for the complexities of this music. Wow!! Had heaven arrived on earth? Not a breath was heard as he moved us through every emotion from tenderness to fervent euphoria. There was a unanimous in-take of breath at the end of his interpretations.
You just never know who is going to come to the meetings…

We had a bit of fun with the Halfbeats.
The Halfbeats, Sammy Breve and Davey Crochet, used the fugue and its imitative counterpoint as a forum to battle out their dispute in regard to good looks and intelligence. "The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress" (Pensées)
………and they harmoniously ended, with two Bach minuets that form a pair from the AM book - one A, one Am - and as an extra double special bonus - one in G. Phew!!
These minuets, the stately court dances of the 17th century were followed by our applause. They relished in our approval and delightfully bowed and curtseyed, agreeing that both were equally handsome and intelligent.
They tried to baffle us with the dates of the compositions declaring that they had done much research for the evening and had chosen pieces well within the time allocation for baroque between 1600 and 1750.
They highly recommended that we read
- The Cello Suite by Eric Siblin
http://www.readings.com.au/review/the-cello-suites-eric-siblin

The newly formed duo for the evening "Baroquen Strings" courageously performed half of their intricate piece in 32.459 seconds. The other half left until the next episode: wonder how it all resolves!
"Half a loaf is better than no bread at all".

Bill acquainted us with Segovia and his friendship with Ponce. Segovia requested Ponce to write music for the guitar in the style of Bach, Scarlatti and Weiss.

Valentina has a fondness for Carulli.
Roger cheered us with miniature minuets,
and Leonie observed our merriment and music making.

General discussions:

Finger Placement before plucking the string:
- Try this method of finger placement on the strings to create a rich full bodied sound - move from the knuckle (using physics here; the knuckle is the fulcrum), plant with the flesh first left side of the finger (closest to the thumb), following through to the nail and as you do so, move along the string (towards the bridge) as you set the string in motion. Leonie described this beautifully as "painting the strings".

Accessories:
- Guitar supports - boil the plastic suction cups to soften rather than licking :-)
- Sleeves for the right arm (We now have a use for the single sock :-) just cut the toe area off and slide the knitted tube onto the arm with the heel of the sock fitting nicely around the elbow). This protective sleeve can assist in preventing your naked arm sticking to the guitar edge. It also assists in preventing abrasion and wearing away of the varnish on the body of the guitar where it is exposed to naked skin (perspiration is acidic containing minerals, lactate and urea). You could have quite a few socks and select the colour that suits your mood when you are playing :-)

Guitars and wood:
Smallman, - using the Allen key to alter the neck for higher or lower action as required
Individual saddles, change one string at a time
Kim Lissarrague guitar and the beautiful wood


Performers and influence on composition and guitar making:
- John Williams influenced the sound of the guitar with his liaison with Smallman. There has been a movement toward a greater sound with more flex out of the soundboard.

Trills:
- embellishment, start above the note, but this may differ if you feel that it is a better sound starting on the lower, start on the beat, start on the dissonant. The idea is to create the illusion of spontaneity and improvisation. Nigel North, the lutenist was thought to do this exceptionally.

Injuries:
Elbow pains, broken fingernails, finger ligament pain, fingers that do not follow brain instructions !!

Observations:
The guitar awaits suitable literary treatment.

Barb and Liz
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March -Sth America Guitar Gathering.
There was a mixture of pieces. (There are no restrictions on what you feel like playing: the theme is merely a suggestion.)

What a great evening it was!!
The peaceful grounds of the Convent sparkled with the magic of guitar sounds flowing from the Yellow room.
In fact, this room became golden with the gems that dazzled our ears:

The South American pieces played were:
Villa Lobos - Choros - familiarity brings a smile. Villa Lobos
composed more than a dozen works with this title for various instruments,mostly during the years 1924-1929. He viewed them as contributions to the evolution of Brazilian music and sounds, through the personality of the composer.

Baden Powell de Aquino - Valsa sem nome - sweet lyrical piece with
distinctive, unique style

Fernando Bustamante - Misionera (arr Jorge Morel)
- What a joyous piece this was!!
It was hard to keep feet and hands still to this Argentinian piece.
The title is derived from a region of Latin America that is
situated between Paraguay and Brazil.

Barrios - La Catedral - great guitar composition with the sound of
bells echoing as a reminder of the mystery of our being. It is
believed that Barrios was inspired by a religious experience and
this
manifested in the mystical sounds heard throughout La Cathedral.
Reminisces of Bach counterpoint are evident.

Brouwer - Un dia de Noviembre - written for a 1972 Cuban film by Humberto Solás. The original instrumentation was for guitar accompanied by flute,bass, and percussion. It was then transcribed by Brouwer for solo guitar- a beautiful modal ballad in the natural minor 'Aeolian' mode.

A couple of Spanish works:
Flamenco rhythms-Joropo and 3 notes - great rhythmic pieces with
complex tapping that reveals the percussive possibilities of the
guitar.
What an instrument!!!

Sor- Minuets in D, G and E - tests the smooth gliding along the
fretboard. Sor's contemporaries considered him to be the greatest
guitarist in the world.

and an American composition:
Andrew York - Reflections - time to swoon: a magical moment of bliss
-a piece by the American classical guitarist and composer

We were thrilled that classical guitarists are gradually coming out
of hiding and enjoying meeting fellow travelers. It was great to share and talk 'guitar talk". The topics that came up in-between the pieces were:

False Finger nails: acrylic as opposed to other products

String talk: some people boil the strings to increase the life of the
string: Boiling strings removes most of the grime, finger oils,
etc., that accumulate on strings. It can make a difference! (according to a friend)

How to remedy buzzing sounds and what to check: bridge height , nut height, string tension , is the neck straight?

Three new people attended. Two were members and very happy to be in the presence of other classical guitarists!!

The visitor (non-member) wished to sample the guitar gathering first, before committing. By the end of the session he admitted that he was keen to be a member and play next time.

If you would like to sample a guitar gathering first, before
committing to membership, you are welcome to do so.
Once you have decided you can become a member by following the direction here:

http://www.melbourneguitar.com/default.aspx?d=37108

Barb and Liz
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