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So happy that we have this new Tonebase group - Carlevaro's School of Guitar Group. The discussion thus far has been centered around setting up the Discussion Group, so now I would like to build upon that and ask those interested to share with the Group, your experience with Carlevaro's School of Guitar. It would be interesting to learn who may have studied with Carlevaro directly or indirectly with one of his students, who have tried to learn Carlevaro's technique on one's own, and those who are new to Carlevaro.
I was fortunate to have met Maestro Carlevaro in 1978, initially in San Francisco and later that year in Madrid where I had the opportunity to perform for him in a Masterclass. Between 1980 - 1983, I spent approximately one-year taking private lessons from him in Montevideo, Uruguay. I was also his US Agent from 1982 - 1989, arranging his US concerts and masterclasses during which time I continued to study with him. I also considered the Maestro and his wife Vani, dear friends, who stayed in my home during his many visits to San Francisco. While my career took me away from the guitar in the 1990s, and 2000s, I have returned to guitar in the last few years and am dedicated to re-learning Carlevaro" School of Guitar and hope to share and learn from you all.
I thought you all might enjoy seeing a photo of Carlevaro and his wife, Vani, with me and my daughter in San Francisco in 1983. It was during this trip that he gave the premiere of his Concerto for Guitar and String Quarter with the Kronos Quartert.
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Dale Needles That's really interesting, Dale.
I have no direct or indirect ties with Carlevaro but discovered him through the Microestudios. It seemed to me there were plenty of beginner and intermediate-grade modern studies being written that covered a wide range of skills and techniques, but as far as musical language, they all seemed to be polarized between using a quite simple or extremely abstract vocabulary. Brouwer's Estudios Sencillos seemed to be one of the few exceptions until I discovered Carlevaro's studies that are challenging technical studies using a complex modern vocabulary while still being accessible.
After that, I learned more about his music and also how important he was in his role as an educator.
I'm looking forward to learning more about his work and I think it's a great opportunity to learn from people in his direct lineage.
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Dale Needles really amazing your experience and relation with Maestro Carlevaro, I'm happy to have you among the members of the group!
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Dale Needles great experience. So nice to hear about all this.
the photo with the Carlevaro couple and your daughter.The last time I heard Carlevaro play was in Amsterdam 93/94 or something.
I'll be with you in this project. I actually discovered the cuadernos (not the escuela), quite early, but without any proper guidance. I found it very difficult and not so inspiring to work on my own. The preludios I liked a lot but they were above my level.
I found the microstudies only recently (Pavel Steidl mentioned them to me in 2018) and then started watching the maestro's YouTube activities more closely. These are great material. Maybe I'm beginning to understand- on the other hand, there are so many differing ideas about hand/arm/wrist positions and movements, that I sometimes feel a bit lost an prefer trying to just find my most natural way of playing. Also, we all have different anatomical characteristics, length of arms, back, fingers etc. When I watch the maestro's pose and movements, I'm convinced but still not sure it would work for me to try to imitate.
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joosje So gald that you saw Carlevaro perform live. I also agree that the Microestudios are a great set of studies and a good entry point to Carlevaro's music. Maybe at some point you can post a few videos of you playing some of his Microestudios in the Composition thread.
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Steve Price I agree with you about the Microestudios. Hopefully you will post a video performance of a few of them in the Composition thread.
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joosje great you have heard him in concert, I missed him in 98 when he was in Montreal at the GFA convention, at some point I thought he would come to Montreal during my studies but it didn't happen. The escuela is definitely what you needed to make sense of the cuadernos, and even more without guidance. These technical exercises are meaningless without the underlying concepts that Carlevaro puts to the table, when done in a «traditional» way they can even be worse. I'm happy to have you on board!
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I was also enough fortunate to study with master Alvaro Pierri, one of Carlevaro's illustrious student, during my Bachelor degree but I never had the chance to met Carlevaro himself. I started studying the SoG by myself before going to College where for 2 years I had the chance to study with a teacher familiar with the SoG and well-known for preparing students for master Pierri. Ultimately, while not being a strict adherent of the SoG, I must say that I'm definitely from this school of thinking. Undeniably the way I play was strongly influenced by Carlevaro's concepts.
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For sure this is a great source of knowledge, and I'm happy to be able to access it.
I started my studies in the Carlevaro technique in 1982, and I had 3 maestros, all of them Carlevaro's students: Nestor Ausqui, Eduardo Castañera, and Krishna Salinas Paz. With Eduardo, I studied from 1982 to 1985, always with a focus on the technical issue, more technique than repertoire. I think I built my guitar skills at this time. After some years (8, more specifically) away from the guitar I took up the practice again and all the gestures were there. For me, that's the key to understanding Carlevaro's School. Instead of some exercises organized by order of difficulty, we have a program to acquire skills, gestures, and abilities, because we are different from each other and our path to acquire a good level of technique may be really distinct. Something that works for me may not work for another. For that, an orientation is - IMO - strongly recommended.
I'm an enthusiast of the Carlevaro's School, and 41 years after I began, I still practice with the cuadernos. -
Hi. My name is Jason & I am from Malta. I am 51 and have been playing classical guitar for 5 years and consider myself a late beginner technically. I first came across Maestro Carlevaro's work a few weeks ago on Tonebase & watched the workshop of Maestro Alfredo earlier this week and was very interested in his work especially on the left hand. I managed to get hold of the 4 didactic cuadernos but have noy been able to get hold of the SoG as it appears out of print. Any ideas on how to obtain a copy. Thank you.
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Jason Welcome Jason, I moved your post to another thread where it belongs to. Great you're joining us in this discussion group about Carlevaro, as for the SoG printed book you can take a look at this link I shared in the General Discussion thread description (you can click here) and I've seen it on Amazon too at some point. Lets us know if you managed to get it and where.
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Jason Hi Jason, welcome to the Carlevaro group. I hope this group will help you to explore Carlevaro's School of Guitar. It is a journey definitely worth taking. On a side note, there is a good chance I may be coming to Malta for a vacation in the Fall so let's stay in touch.
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Dale Needles Hi Dale, thank you for your kind thoughts and welcome. I look forward to being in this group as a beginner in Carlevaro's work and learning from this group. Definitely stay in touch and let me know when you are coming to Malta. It would be a pleasure to meet you.
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you Blaise. I look forward to being a part of this group as part of my guitar education. With regards to SoG, I haven't been able to locate a print copy English Version but have managed to find a pdf version which I downloaded and will have to do for now.
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Jason You're right, after doing a bit of research I can find a printed version of SoG in Spanish, French and Germany but nothing in English, I hope it still available somewhere... we'll crack the Internet and find it! At least you found a scanned version for yourself.
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Jason The Libreria Musicale Ut Orpheus has the version in English and Spanish. In euros...Look at https://www.libreriamusicale.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=256775. Regards!
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It is so great to see our little group growing. I am excited about the journey we will be taking together as we explore Carlevaro's School of Guitar. One point that I want to make, which sometimes gets lost in discussions about Carlevaro's school of technique and his compositions, is what an amazing artistic performer and virtuoso he was. His live performances were absolutely amazing! My first experience with Carlevaro was seeing him perform in Berkeley, California in 1978 and I was completely blown away with his performance.
I love these two quotes about Carlevaro's playing,
" Carlevaro, who has learned the true value of technique, played with warmth, ingenuity, and intense musicality." Calgary Herald, Alberta, Canada
"An impeccable, sure, and richly modulated style of playing in the service of a noble and interpretive feeling." La Prensa, Barcelona
