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This week features something a bit different.  Instrument and Tape pieces have been around since the beginning of the minimalism movement.  For Guitar and Tape one of the most famous pieces is Electric Counterpoint by Steve Reich.  This piece was originally written for Electric Guitar and was premiered by Pat Methany.  This piece was also transcribed for classical guitar by David Tanenbaum, and was featured on his CD Acoustic Counterpoint.  The piece was also renamed Acoustic Counterpoint Read More

This week features a great piece by Astor Piazzolla.  Primavera Porteña which is part of the larger work The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.  The piece is originally scored for Piazzolla's tango band consisting of a violin (or viola), piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón.  Here's a video of Vladimir Gorbach from the 2011 GFA (which he came in 1st place in the International Concert Artist Competition) performing Sergio Assad's solo arrangement of this piece. http://www.youtube. Read More

Today's video features the 2009 Guitar Foundation of America winner Florian Larousse.  In this video, taken from his Mel Bay video (the video has been posted by Mel Bay themselves), Larousse is playing Fantasia Op. 71 by attributed by John Dowland, also known as the Chromatic Fantasy.  With that said, it has been discovered that Philip Rosseter is the actual composer of this Fantasy.  Larousse's instrument is built by Hugo Cuvilliez, who builds a detachable set of 4 harp strings, which Lar Read More

Here's a wonderful video from a segment of an interview with William Kanengiser, from the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and the up side to practicing with less time.  No matter how many times I talk to students about this concept, they seem not to believe me.  It's nice to hear it from a different person.  Also, it's nice to see that even Kanengiser continues to develop and explore his technique! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9_KojGrlDk There are many more videos from this interview, ch Read More

Here's a look back at Segovia's 1965 Master Class (I believe), with Oscar Ghiglia.  Listening to Ghiglia explain his experience and what he got out of the classes makes you wish you could still study with Segovia now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVV10Higj9E Read More

Celin Romero is the older brother of Pepe Romero, both of whom were joined by their brother Angel Romero and their father Celedonio Romero to form the first incarnation of the Romero Guitar Quartet.  Celin Romero speaks in the following video what his experience was in teaching and working with his younger brother Pepe and the pieces/methods he used with him. Towards the middle of the video, Celin speaks about inspiration.  Most of us think that students need to find their inspiration, but Read More

Welcome to the first Inspiration Corner of 2012.  To start off the new year, here is a video of Dale Kavanagh speaking about sound production on the guitar, and more importantly talking about what is a good sound on the guitar.  This is a very interesting and important topic for classical guitarists.  Many people talk about tone, bright tone verse a dark tone, full tone verse a thin tone, etc.  More importantly may guitarists are on a question for this silky smooth "perfect tone".  However, Read More

Well, it's officially 2012!  A new year, and a new website!  I'd like to thank Ann Gaffigan from Gazelle Incorporated for the new redesigned nickcutroneo.com.  While my website has been down for about 6 months now, it was worth the wait.  Many of the features from the previous website remain the same, the main thing to note is the integrated blog.  Ann did an amazing job of bringing everything from my previous blog to this website.  Along with the new look, I've got some new press shots Read More

This weekend was a busy one for Tempo del Fuoco.  We kicked off our week long tour with two back to back concerts at The University of Connecticut's Community School of the Arts and The Suzuki Music School of Westport.  Both programs were our hour long/no intermission programs.  The turn out to both concerts were quite good for weekend afternoon faculty recitals. Saturday at UConn Sarah arrived to my place around 12 in the afternoon.  Fresh from our rehearsal last weekend, we both deci Read More

This week features a performance of a piece that we hear regularly on the Classical Guitar.  Bach's Cello Suites are often transcribed and performed on Classical Guitar.  To me, part of understanding these pieces is hearing them played on the Cello.  This week features the Sarabande from Bach's 3rd Cello Suite, BWV 1009 performed by Mischa Maisky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL_vFR7Ba_Y& Read More