Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a great summer! I thought it was about time for another update on my classical guitar business...
Firstly, I had a great summer. I went on holiday and enjoyed the Greek sun for two weeks. I absolutely loved it: lounging on the beach, swimming in the sea and drinking and eating far too much but of course I was missing my guitar! :-( What made this slightly easier was hearing Greek music everyday; particularly the sounds of the bouzouki. A few years ago, on a boat trip in Greece, I got the chance to play a baglamadaki (a mini version of a bouzuki pitched an octave higher) with some Greek musicians and WOW! The music is so beautiful but it took me a while to get my head around the 9/8 time signature (they were very patient with me)!
Obviously over the summer, I had no school teaching which gave me the perfect opportunity to brush up on my repertoire and to focus on some new music. After playing Lejania for Leo Brouwer in July, I have been looking at more of Maria Luisa Anido's work and the more I listen the more I fall in love! Lejania is part of Preludios Nostalgicos so I have been looking at the other two pieces from the collections, Mar and Gris. The pieces were written when Maria spent periods living far away from home. I also found out, from Gloria Medone, who met Maria Luisa Anido twice, that Lejania was composed on a boat trip and that she used the arpeggios as a way of expressing the waves movement and she watched the sea through the window... (Little pieces of information like this can really transform the way I thinking about expressing music.)
As well as focusing on solo repertoire, I have been working hard on some Giuliani duets: Variazioni Concertanti Op. 130, Ouverture de La Gazza Ladra and Ouverture Il Barbieri de Siviglia. In October, I will be playing these pieces with Italian guitarist Davide Sciacca (...oh... next month... I'm going to be starting some serious practice after I've written this blog post!) The concert will take place on 15th October at the University of Liverpool. Keep an eye out on my 'Events' to find out more info.
I'm back in the schools now and have gained a few more pupils - I'm looking forward to watching them develop and work with all my guitarists towards their Christmas performances. I have also got a new job! I'm teaching in an esteemed music school in Wirral. It's only early days there, but I'm slowly building my pupil base up and am really enjoyed teaching a range of ages and abilities. As well as this, I have started teaching privately from home - this is ideal; I don't have to spend an hour on the bus!
For now, the teaching is keeping me busy but I am hoping to get a few more performances scheduled so watch this space...
Thanks for catching up!
Eleanor
PS I forgot to mention that I finally put my first video on YouTube! If you haven't seen it yet, please take a look: ..big thank you to Skyhawk Pictures for the amazing production!