As some of my GMG friends know, I have been studying classical guitar with a private teacher for more than 10 years. In August of 2019 I made a change and began studying with Joshua Chari, co-founder of Music by Tritone in Roswell, GA.
As part of my studies with Joshua, I joined the Adult Ensemble group that he and a fellow teacher, Zac Lavender, offer to all their "older" students. We first met in October last year -- five cello students, an acoustic guitar student and me! We worked on three short pieces: Sarabande by Handel, Air on a G String by Bach and an arrangement of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby by Zac. We presented a short little recital at a Roswell assisted-living facility in early December (pre COVID-19 obviously). It was well received and great fun!
By January 2020 the Adult Ensemble was back up and running (and practicing together every Sunday evening) on three new pieces: Partita V by Telemann, an arrangement of Seal's Kiss from a Rose, again by Zac, and a brand-new composition by Zac -- Cascade in Winter. Our group sessions ended abruptly in early March. Since then we have been meeting online with a goal of eventually providing virtual videos of each piece.
We began this new adventure aided by individual "click tracks" provided by Zac and learned how to download our own recordings to Zac and Joshua. Following lots of editing, fine-tuning and technology wizardry, our first video came online recently: Cascade in Winter by Zac Lavender performed by the Music by Tritone Adult Ensemble, Spring 2020.
Mirroring my experiences as a member of GMG, this entire process has been an amazing and wonderful journey that has enriched my life in so many ways — through the other musicians I have met, the music we have learned together and the skills we have all gained along the way.
And now, for something totally different -- here is the link! I hope you enjoy it.
P.S. If you check out the video, can you please click on Subscribe and Like it! That's Zac playing his cello in the second row!
Many thanks to all my GMG friends. Stay safe!
Actually, I could hear your guitar sound well. It was a very nice mix!
Thanks, Utako. The electric guitar overpowers the classical guitar but that is understandable. It was such an interesting process and a real stretch for me.
This is a fantastic video. Well done! I can hear fine-tuning, synchronization, voice balancing, etc.. He brought up the sound of each performer very nicely.
Thanks for sharing this, Abbie!