David Walbert directs me in an exercise.

Well sort of.... we actually posed for this shot, balanced the camera on a support and set the timer and hoped for the best. I wasn't as stunned as I looked.

I've Been Walbertized! And it is GOOD!

I just settled back into my hotel room in Birmingham, Al. I arrived at the airport yesterday at 12:10 pm, deplaned, got my luggage, picked up a rental car and made it to Yoda's Den(Gilewitz's affectionate term for David Walbert's home studio) by 1:07pm, not too bad considering my flight was 10 minutes late as well. Sunday's session focused upon Study for Margot and Dance, both being Walbert compositions that I have been playing. He suggested new left hand fingerings in a few places on Study that help me smooth out some sections. We also worked on picking mechanics. He showed me and helped me develop some techniques that I had never tried before, including string stops, vibrato, right hand sweeping strokes, rest strokes etc. So much information flowed and it will be great if I can remember 50% and incorporate into my playing. Walbert is an absolutely fantastic teacher and it became apparent within 20 minutes why Gilewitz reveres him so much. Their approaches are similar but David's is deeply rooted in his classical roots. Richard has prepared me so well that as we finished up today's three(supposed to only be two) hour session and I told David I had only been playing since August of 2008, he was truly surprised. He assumed I had much more experience. Today's session started out on "Falling Slowly". He felt I already had a good handle on the piece so he helped me take the piece farther with the addition
vibrato, crescendo and sustain of the bass notes. From there we went onto "Spatter the Dew" an Irish piece I have struggled to sort out the timing. I think I have it now. It is a 9/8 slip jig with a few sections that tricky for me. I have some new pieces to work on as well and am anxious to get busy on those. I leave early tomorrow morning to head home. Crossed fingers that the weather won't muck up my flights.

Final Concert of the Festival

This afternoon the audience was treated to the final concert of the Miami International Guitar Festival. It was a double bill including a solo classical guitarist and a local group consisting of two guitarists and a percussionist. St. Bede's Episcopal Church was the venue for this concert and it provided a very nice atmosphere. The audience was small but appreciative and both acts were awesome. I will provide more details later but wanted to get a bit written before heading out in the morning. It will be a hectic day. I must leave the hotel around 8 am, gas up the car, drive to the rental company, get a shuttle to the airport, find my boarding gate and get checked in. I will be praying for no glitches because I have only a small window of time for my first lesson with David Walbert. I am looking forward to the experience. Richard spent some more lesson time with me today. We focused mainly on Anji because I really wanted to work on the timing of the piece. I finally got that going and am desperately hoping it will stick with me. I went over part of Dance as well but there really wasn't much time for a critique on that one. I think RG thought I may as well do that with the maestro who wrote it. Camille, another one of RG's students and I will be heading out in a couple minutes to go see Toy Story 3 in iMax and 3d, yee haa.

A Fantastic Concert

Last night Richard and Mir Ali presented their music to an appreciative audience. Mir opened the set with a series of fantastic numbers that showcased his incredible skills. Unlike other classical performers that I have seen, he is relaxed and poised on stage. He even presented with a bit of humor. I think this was interjected because he knew Richard wasn't going to hold back during his set. I did not get drowsy during his set so I think that was a sign that he was good. Richard's playing was top-notch and he really entertained the group with his skills and banter. One can only wonder how a "classical" audience relates to this sort of performance. Judging by the laughter and applause, I think he was a hit. As is typical for me, I found myself completely absorbed in his playing. I listened for enjoyment and for learning. Every time I attend one of his concerts I try to soak in something new, nuances like vibratos, ghost notes, glissandos etc. He provided me with two study sessions yesterday. One session was paired with our lunch where he went over aspects of promotion, using the Festival as an example to learn from. He also gave me a hypothetical situation and asked how I'd handle it. With yesterday's concert as a foundation, here's the scenario: Mir Ali is suddenly ill and I have been elected to perform in his place. It is understood that I am not a "headlining" act but I need to fill 20 minutes of time with a set of tunes. Which tunes would I play and in what order? RG is the headliner so my set would precede his. I chose to start with Freight Train. I said I would include Scarborough Fair, my two Irish tunes, Study for Margot, Study in Bm, and I would finish on Echoing Gilewitz as a tribute to my teacher. He stressed retuning quickly and working on dialogue in-between tunes. I told him I would relate some of the history of the pieces. He told me my new goal for the year is to put together a solid 20 minute set. During the second session, we worked on the first measures of Dance. I have a lot to correct and I need to get more starting points, places where I can just pick up the tune at key points. More lesson time today starting at 1pm, another concert between 4-6 and then we wrap things up and tomorrow morning I head out early for the airport and I'm off to Birmingham and quickly hook up with Walbert, if the flight is on time. I have to admit apprehension. I need to develop an attitude of "just relax, go with the flow and work at improving".

Mir Ali(left) and Richard Gilewitz(right)

Here's our group on the final workshop day at The Miami International Guitar Festival

Miami International Guitar Festival-1st Concert Day

This was another busy day. It started in the morning with workshops over slide and sound. After those two experiences I, along with the rest of the students, had the opportunity to watch and listen as Richard and Mir Ali practiced and jammed together. They experimented with a number of different tunes and seem to have settled on combining efforts on Greensleeves, Romancsa(I have this title wrong), a medley that begins with Anji and wrapping up on Freight Train. This is subject to change since they are currently meeting here at the hotel to go over more details. They have another rehearsal scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We attended a concert in the recital hall that RG will perform in Friday evening. It opened with Rene Gonzalez, head of the U of Miami classical guitar program, he was joined by a flutist later in the set. The show was wrapped up by a newly formed classical guitar trio, The Miami Guitar Trio. Their performance was nearly perfect. All of this provided a great experience even though I wasn't able to play much today. Because of my association with Richard I was to able attend a post concert informal get together at a local sports bar. It was interesting to listen to all of the conversations between these artists as they shared information about their careers and devotion to playing their instruments. I had very little to contribute except when the talk became more purely social. RG is wondering how the audience will react to his non-classical approach to playing. It will be quite interesting to see how everyone adjusts to having a performer break all of the rules of a classical concert. I believe tomorrow I will be spending my day doing two things, playing guitar on my own(haven't actually had much time for this) and providing an anchor for another of RG's students,Camille, who is coming into town for his concert. The concert will open with Mir Ali, a spectacular classical/flamenco style player and RG has the second set. At the end they will join forces for a few tunes. I'm going to bring this to a quick close and focus on some of my playing.