Etudes for Solo Guitar (2005)
Duration: 7’
Movements:
Performer in audio recording:
Matt Carvin, guitar
Studio recording, Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, MD
Autumn 2006
Program Notes:
I selfishly composed this set of “Etudes for the intermediate guitarist” for myself to play. During my Guitar Minor lessons, I had been working gradually through Aaron Shearer’s excellent textbook full of Shearer-composed etudes, and was inspired to write some etudes that would be difficult for me and would inspire me to practice even more. The composition process for this piece had a steep learning curve, which made it all the more valuable for me – for, as I discovered, it’s one thing to be able to read notation and puzzle out how to perform it on the guitar, and it’s another thing altogether to compose using non-triadic and non-pianistic structures, and to then have to figure out the gory details of how to notate it in a legible and clear way.
Each etude works a different technique necessary for developing guitarists. Etude #1 works on chordal playing; Etude #2 (my personal favorite) is helpful for learning how to bring a melodic voice out of a texture, and how to alternate simple arpeggios and more extended melodic phrases; Etude #3, heavily inspired by a favorite Leo Brouwer etude, forces the performer to change hand shapes and fingerpick patterns in small but important ways; Etude #4 develops fluency in playing the melody in the thumb and ring finger, while playing the accompaniment in the pointer and middle fingers; the very Shearer-like Etude #5 works on rapid triads with the melody at the bottom, coupled with changing pick patterns; and Etude #6 explores rapid shifting and barre chords.
While I never quite mastered playing all six of these etudes myself, I am grateful to Matt Carvin for taking the time to read through them so artistically and beautifully, and for bringing out their musicianship instead of just their technique.
— August 2010