Are there any classical guitarists on this forum hoping to take a diploma in the next 12 months?
Are there any classical guitarists who have ever taken a diploma?

It would be good to chat about the repertoire etc.

Hi Phil,

Aye, it's one of those things that I keep meaning to get around to. Currently I'm getting over a minor hand injury but the plan is to do BWV 995 Prelude and Presto, Giuliani Op 107 Handel Variations, Brouwer's Elegio de la Danza and see if I can fit in a Dowland Fantasia or something.

What about yourself?

Cheers,

Matt.

Good to hear from you Matt. I hope the hand gets better quickly.

Your repertoire doesn't overlap with mine at all! I'm doing BWV 998 Prelude, Suite Valenciana (Prelude) - Asencio, Madronos - Torroba, Sonatina Meridional (1st Movement) - Ponce, and all 3 pieces from In The Woods - Takemitsu.

I played Prelude\Presto to BWV 995 a couple of months ago at a festival.

I'm under the impression that most guitarists go for the Trinity exams. I think Trinity college goes for the less traditional instruments than the Royal schools. I firmly believe that the Royal schools should remain open to all types of music, not just the traditional instruments. 2 of my 3 teachers in the past have been Trinity or Guildhall professors, but I'm sticking to my guns!

Have you played any of the pieces from my repertoire?

Come on all you guitarists - there's been a steady flow of, er, one person so far. Are we alone or what??

Thanks for the good wishes. Frustrating not being able to play to full ability as I just got a new James Lister guitar but it's coming back to strength.

I've had a go at the BWV998 before now (love the cascade feel at the beginning) but the Allegro has always seemed a tad scary . As for the rest, I seem to be one of the few to play guitar who hasn't had a crack at any Ponce, Torroba or Castelnuovo-Tedesco for that matter. No idea why, just never got round to them.

The Takemitsu I've tried have been pieces from his "Twelve Songs" collection which are beautifully done. He managed to arrange the Beatles stuff so that it doesn't sound trite (as opposed to a few other versions I've had a look at) and the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" really works well too. Thoroughly recommended if you haven't already tried them.

My old guitar teacher had gone the London College of Music route but put people in for ABRSM exams so I've just stuck with them. I'd heard good things about the other boards with regard to guitar but the ABRSM appears to be catching up with the new syllabus.

As to the amount of guitarists here. We seem to be quite a rare breed (come on Alicia, join in when ready) but if you want to check out a place where we're in the majority, you might have a look at the forums at

http://www.delcamp.net/

where there are plenty of all abilities from beginner to downright scary. It's also quite a friendly place.

Cheers,

Matt.

Its good to be in a minority sometimes! So many people love listening to the classical guitar, but so few people play it.

Have you seen John Williams Guitar Notes?
He's giving away his compositions and arrangements over a period of time.

I'm here - but was keeping quiet as Philip was asking for diploma level chat. It'll be a little while before I'm ready to join in there as I'm only about grade 2.

Ah, didn't think about the diploma thing , you'll soon be there though. Doesn't seem two minutes ago that you were just picking the instrument up. Also you probably have good points for the discussion from your piano playing.

@ Phil,

Have seen the John Williams site. Am hoping that his arrangement of the Chaconne will go up there at some point.

Cheers,

Matt.

Its good to hear from you Alicia. What pieces are you working on now?

My teacher has set me to work through the entire series of Abracadaba Recorder - I'm just starting book 3, having now completed books 1, 1A, and 2. There's only books 3 & 4 to go but boy can I sightread and pivot and workout my own fingering and produce a continuous and smooth sound, stopping the strings at phase ends. At home I sightread anything I can find at grade two and it doesn't take very long (a few goes) to play it well. Teacher says I could probably do the grade three exam fairly soon but he feels his (unusual?) method will bring great progress if I stick with it. I have to agree since I only started last summer. I'm trying to get Tales of the River Bank (CG version) up to speed.

Its good to see you're doing grade 8 theory as well. I did grade 8 theory and most people thought I was mad because you only required grade 5. But it really is good for you, so you go ahead and do it - it'll be worth it.

Hi all. I did the Dip in 2000, I think the choices might have changed a bit since then - I also had a student do it a couple of years ago, doing the Torroba Madronos, Dowland Essex Galliard, Sor Fantaisie and Falla Homenaje (and a piece of mine as a free choice - remember you can do a fee choice!).

So hardly any overlaps there at all over three lists! Madronos is quite a well know piece and everybody should have a crack at it when they can. There are different editions, which can cloud the issue slightly.

In 2006 I did the LRSM too.

As far as the differences between the boards is concerned, I think it is hard to know the numbers taken because they don't publish them. However I would confidently say that the AB diplomas are worth more, chiefly to be honest because you have two examiners, one of whom is supposed to know your instrument (the LR examiner certainly did - the others weren't actually players). Also, for the AB ones there are other tests, which seem to be disappearing and/or being diluted at the Trinity ones - I do have students doing the new Trinity system when they get around to it, or to be exact when Trinity get around to publishing the requirements - they have been *very* late about this , and I have always in the past found them a fairly hopeless case in admin - though not as bad as the old Guildhall!

Torroba Madronos is on the current G. 8 syllabus...

Yes it is, there's always some overlap between the DipAB type pieces and grade 8, not least because its a bit like a longer G8 performance! The Falla has I think been as low as G7 in the past - though it wouldn't be that if you really do all the staccatos!

I'm taking the DipABRSM this coming season (Oct-Dec 2009). Repertoire-wise, this is what I think:

1. the guitar syllabus has many small pieces (say "any 2 Walton's Bagatelles" instead of a complete sonata) due to the nature of guitar literature itself;

2. consequently, I think, we guitarists need to play at least seven pieces (5m each) from at least 4 composers to make up the 35m time-requirement, and this is easily be more (I play 10 pieces from 7 composers);

3. that means, our performance will be a generalist one, more like a CD of 'the best of classical guitar' than of "baroque and classical guitar";

4. somehow, that will effect the viva-voce. Instead of thinking about 2 pieces of sonata, we must dig up more pieces from more composers. The good side of this is it becomes easier for us to write those 1100-word programme;

5. I would personally say that one plays as much as pieces that he's played for sometimes, and learns as few as possible new pieces. The point of an exam, I think, is just to get standarized. So if the requirement is 5, let's just do it 6. We'd better concentrate on passing the exam than on taking a chance with showing off our skills.

These are another crucial aspects for us guitarists:
1. we tend to re-tune the strings after a piece. I personally use a tuner and really practice it! This issue is especially real if we must tune 6=D to 6=E, or worse, you play Koyunbaba Now say you need 15 seconds to tune, play 10 pieces, that is already 150-second or 2.5-minutes extra. Right? So think and practice this tuning issue too;
2. the sitting! Do find out what kind of sitting is most convenient for you. When I played the first-piece for grade-8, I remember cursing the chair as I played. That was because I just sat and played without testing the comfortableness of my sitting. As a result, everything felt wrong and uncomfortable [luckily I played a piece that I'd played for ages ]. So, try to find out what comfortable sitting is for you personally, and do try to get it during the exam. Make sure you know how to adjust the piano chair, or else, just bring your own plastic chair;
3. page-turning! The benefit of reading is to help us avoid mind-excursion and also eye-contact!
You know, practically it is only us guitarist who must look at the audience during a performance. Due to their sitting, pianists have no direct eye-contact with the audience; violinists too, who can just stand and move around their body and feet; cellists normally are facing their accompanist, right? But not us, because we do have a fixed position facing the audience. So, reading can help us to avoid that eye-contact. Imagine you catch a nasty critical look on the examiner face as you're playing, then you start to worry, then you start to slip. So, reading in this exam setting, I think, can work well for us.
For the page-turning, I scan the music, then cut-&-paste the bars as such that I can turn the pages at my convenient time. Sure I also practice this page-turning.

Well ... I wish this is useful for you!