The challenges of strumming a classical tune
“Classical guitarists are in the minority everywhere,” said world renowned classical guitarist Paul Cesarczyk when he visited Sri Lanka in October, “and it’s not really a problem.”
Paul Cesarczyk performing in Sri Lanka. Pic by Ashwin Dominique Jayalath
But being a classical guitarist and belonging to that minority has its unique challenges, which both Cesarczyk and Theophilus Benjamin of the Asian Guitar Federation agreed the Guitar Association is doing a good job of addressing in Sri Lanka.
American-Polish Cesarczyk made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 17 and has since been performing regularly in the US, Europe and Asia.
He is a founder member of the Manhattan Guitar Quartet and has also played with the Speculum Musicae and the Cremona Festival Orchestra among many other world-renowned ensembles.
Theophilus Benjamin has performed at prestigious venues in India, and is founder member of the New Delhi Guitar Quartet, consultant for the Trinity College of Music, and a music instructor.
| Guitar Festival The Guitar Association of Sri Lanka is planning the 2016 Guitar Festival which will take place from January 24 to 27 in Colombo, Kurunegala and Jaffna.The concerts which are free of charge to the public will feature guitarists from India, Japan and Iran. Those who wish to perform can call Mohomed Iqbal on 0718690494 or Rohan Silva on 0778698951 for more information. |
The two spent a few days last October in Sri Lanka, conducting guitar workshops and performing to enthusiastic audiences as part of a series of events organised by the Guitar Association of Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Asian Guitar Federation.
“The audience didn’t seem used to the idea of a classical guitar show,” Benjamin said of some of their performances, pointing to one particular issue faced by classical guitarists.
According to a report published by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in 2014, the popularity of electric guitar over classical guitar, violin and other instruments is rising fast.
What this may mean is that unlike a piano and violin repertoire which remains predominantly classical, the classical guitar repertoire gets overtaken by pop and rock.
Although applause instead of the conventional silence between movements surprised him at first, it also pleased Benjamin to know that the audience they played to appreciated the music.
“You learn to read the audience,” Cesarczyk said. “You can tell when they’re attentive, and I felt the audience was in tune with us.” Small audiences are hardly a problem in his books, since as he sees it, “classical guitar is not a show for your mind, but for your spirit,” and therefore not something large crowds are easily attracted to.
Cesarczyk told us that “the muscle motions required to make the most of the guitar are quite complex”.
But Benjamin pointed out that contrary to popular, “it’s actually easier to start learning with classical guitar than electric”.
The nylon strings of the classical instrument are gentler than the steel of the electric.
Classical guitars are also lighter and found in a variety of sizes that are easier for young learners to handle on the whole. These and other facts combined make classical instruments ideal for beginning a guitar career on.
But while pop and rock repertoire can easily be learnt for free online, “there is really no substitute for one-on-one training” in classical guitar, Cesarczyk admitted.
Unlike pop music where a few chord positions usually are all you need to know to handle a song, there is a lot of education behind classical guitar performance.
Cesarczyk himself performs arrangements of Beatles numbers and other well-known pop and rock pieces, but cannot help notice the difference between the genres.
One important aspect of classical guitar performance which he feels often gets overlooked in contemporary practice and cannot be acquired online is the training required for producing good tone.
“A politician can have a wonderful stand and a great speech,” the master explained, “but if he has a whiny voice, that’s not going to make a great impact.
It’s the same with the guitar. It’s not just the message but also how you deliver it.”
Not only solid training, but the support of experienced sound engineers also plays an important role in producing good tone, both artists acknowledged.
“The lack of good sound engineers is a common problem,” as Cesarczyk phrased it, “and you need a very good ear to be able to handle it.”
The “true sound” of instruments such as the violin which have a higher pitch range are easier to capture than the classical guitar, said Benjamin, adding that their experience with some of the engineers over the shows in Sri Lanka was very good.
“It is a fast growing industry,” Cesarczyk continued, “and the more guitarists we have, the more engineers that will get the training they need to support these artists.”
Key to developing all of these points and overcoming the challenges of contemporary classical guitar performance, the artists agree, is the ability to simply hear more good music.
“And if you support more artists, you also give students a better idea what they can do with the instrument,” Cesarczyk said, elaborating that a community built around musical experience is key to a sustainable environment for music to grow.
This is precisely what the work of the Guitar Association of Sri Lanka is geared and progressing steadily towards, as he experienced in October.
The Association has been organising annual Guitar Festivals and workshops regularly over the last few years, creating opportunities for classical guitarists to learn and network, pooling ideas and resources, with the vision of creating a sustainable community of enthusiasts.
“In New York, all you need is ten dollars to hear some good music,” Cesarczyk continued, “but not here. Here it’s a struggle that takes a lot of committed people for something like this to happen.”
Both he and Benjamin acknowledged that to work with Mohamed Iqbal and the committed team behind the Guitar Association was an inspiring experience.