Hector Berlioz famously commented on the shortcomings of the guitar, among them a “weak sonority” that greatly restricted its use in ensemble (Berlioz’s Orchestral Treatise: A Translation and Commentary, trans. and ed. Hugh Macdonald [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002], 86). Even though the instrument as Berlioz knew it would give way later in the century to a larger, more sonorous design, the dynamic range of the guitar would never be extended (prior to electrification) in such a way that would satisfy the romantic appetite for vast soundscapes and extreme dynamic contrasts

NC DOCKS at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Nelson, William "Mac"

English

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Techniques of Guitar Playing [Review]  By: William M. Nelson  Nelson, William M (2016). Techniques of Guitar Playing, by Seth F, Josel and Ming Tsao. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, 73 (1), 109-111.  Made available courtesy of Music Library Association: http://dx.doi.org/[Add doi here]  ***© Music Library Association. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permission from Music Library Association. This version of the document is not the version of record. Figures and/or pictures may be missing from this format of the document. ***  Abstract:  Hector Berlioz famously commented on the shortcomings of the guitar, among them a “weak sonority” that greatly restricted its use in ensemble (Berlioz’s Orchestral Treatise: A Translation and Commentary, trans. and ed. Hugh Macdonald [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002], 86). Even though the instrument as Berlioz knew it would give way later in the century to a larger, more sonorous design, the dynamic range of the guitar would never be extended (prior to electrification) in such a way that would satisfy the romantic appetite for vast soundscapes and extreme dynamic contrasts.  Keywords: review | guitars | music  Article:   ***Note: Full text of article below   Book Reviews 109GUITARThe Techniques of Guitar Playing. By Seth F. Josel and Ming Tsao.Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2014. [233 p. ISBN 9783761822432. i49.95.] CD,music examples, illustrations, tables, appendices, bibliography, index.Hector Berlioz famously commented onthe shortcomings of the guitar, amongthem a “weak sonority” that greatly re-stricted its use in ensemble (Berlioz’s Orche s -tral Treatise: A Translation and Commen tary,trans. and ed. Hugh Macdonald [Cam -bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002],86). Even though the instrument as Berliozknew it would give way later in the centuryto a larger, more sonorous design, the dy-namic range of the guitar would never beextended (prior to electrification) in sucha way that would satisfy the romantic ap-petite for vast soundscapes and extreme dy-namic contrasts. This limitation relegatedthe guitar to a peripheral place in the clas-sical tradition of Western music until shift-ing aesthetic philosophies and composi-tional techniques provided the instrumenta more hospitable environment in the firsthalf of the twentieth century. Several fac-tors contributed to this improvement in theguitar’s fortunes. First, the early decades ofthe century witnessed an increase in thenumber of touring soloists, among themAndrés Segovia, who rose to a level of inter-national fame unprecedented for a gui-tarist. His manner of performance ex-ploited the guitar’s palette of tonal colors,captivating large audiences and drawing at-tention to what is arguably the instrument’schief virtue: a great richness of timbral vari-ety that allows for specific musical effects inthe absence of a wide range of dynamiccontrast. A second factor in the guitar’s riseto greater musical prominence was its in-clusion in ensembles, primarily for color.Influential in this regard was GustavMahler’s Symphony no. 7 (1904–5), whichcombines the guitar with other plucked in-struments, to striking atmospheric effect.Alban Berg also employed the guitar in the “Bühnenmusik” from his opera Wozzeck(1914–22), as did Arnold Schoenberg inthe Serenade, op. 24 (1920–23), and AntonWebern in Fünf Stücke, op. 10 (1911–13),Drei Lieder, op. 18 (1925), and Zwei Lieder,op. 19 (1925–26). Yet a third factor in thedevelopment of the modern guitar and itsliterature was the stylistic upheaval of the1950s that shifted compositional focus tothe elements of musical texture. The result-ing emphasis on the distinctive qualities ofsound and on timbre as a significant com-ponent in musical composition favored theguitar, and music for the instrument prolif-erated. This period of guitar history was thefirst in which most of the music composedfor the instrument was by non-guitarists, aphenomenon that transformed the reper-toire. John Schneider’s landmark publica-tion, The Contemporary Guitar (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1985), exam-ines this repertoire, surveys its requisitetechniques, and urges a musical approachgrounded in an awareness of guitar soundin terms of the parameters of timbre. Theneed for a worthy successor to this volumehas long been apparent. The Techniques of Guitar Playing, by Seth F.Josel and Ming Tsao, addresses this lacuna.It is a reference work for the guitar as usedin art music, primarily that of the last threedecades, a period that has seen expandedIn Groove: A Phenomenology of RhythmicNuance, Tiger C. Roholt has offered us thegift of clear thinking about a phenomenonthat can seem either ineffable becausesolely bodily or obvious to the point of re-quiring no comment, either ideologicallyneutral or instead ideologically overdeter-mined, and that locates many feelingsabout and desires for music as a culturalpractice. We can express gratitude toRoholt for mediating, challenging, andclarifying discourses about groove—fromthe musicological to the cognitive—thatthemselves embody values and aspirationsfrom cultures as diverse as the Afrologicaland Eurological. By experiencing Groove, bybodily performing it, we are able to partici-pate in its unique joys, which Roholt explores expertly.Scott GleasonNew York, NY110 Notes, September 2016use of the guitar and a significant extensionof its techniques, as well as an increase inthe number of small chamber ensemblesthat include the instrument and the growthof guitar studies as an academic discipline.The nylon-string “classical” guitar figurescentrally in the book, though a variety ofsteel-string guitars and related acoustic instruments are considered in the finalchapter. The electric guitar is excluded, theauthors explain, as it represents a vast, tech-nologically complex subject that merits avolume of its own. While The Techniques ofGuitar Playing is neither a systematicmethod nor a comprehensive history, itdraws effectively on key pedagogical andhistorical documents in service of its evi-dent purposes: to provide a comprehensiveguide to the sounds of the contemporaryguitar, to present the techniques guitaristsmight use in generating these sounds, andto supply the notational resources com-posers might employ in communicatinghow to perform these sounds. The text in-cludes 261 music examples, 120 illustra-tions, and five tables, and it comprises fourbroad chapters—“Guitar Basics,” “GuitarHarmonics,” “Guitar as Percussion,” and “ ‘All in the Family’: The Acoustic Guitar’sRelatives.” There is an additional fifthchapter of appendices, plus one 66-trackcompact disc featuring guitar sounds. Eachchapter of the book is divided into multiplesections and subsections, a structure thataccommodates scanning the text with aneye toward specific techniques. The namesor descriptions of techniques form the titles of each numbered section or subsec-tion, so the reader might turn, for exam-ple, to subsection 1.3.3 for coverage of“Micro tonal tunings” or 3.2.3 for “Un -pitched tapping.” The large number ofthese, 45 sections with 99 subsections, at-tests to the extent and variety of the guitar’ssonic possibilities. Despite being organized by a schemethat facilitates selective attention to individ-ual techniques, the book includes cumula-tive elements that invite close and completereading. Most compelling among these isthe use of multiple examples from particu-lar compositions in different chapters andsections, a process that fosters understand-ing of the larger structure of each work bybroadening the context in which thereader perceives it. Among the solo worksso treated are Luciano Berio’s Sequenza XI(1988), Brian Ferneyhough’s Kurze SchattenII (1983–89), and Maurizio Pisati’s SetteStudi (1990); among the chamber worksare Helmut Lachenmann’s Salut für Caud -well (1977) and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf ’sKurtág-Duo (2000). Most closely examined,perhaps, are Rolf Riehm’s Toccata Orpheus(1990), which merits a case study (pp.142–45) for its extensive use of percussivetechniques to create a “unique . . . rarefiedsound world” (p. 12), and Tristan Murail’sTellur (1977) for solo guitar. This work hasits origin in a kind of wager Murail madewith himself as he grappled with a questionthat has long vexed composers of guitarmusic: Is it possible to generate “a longsound continuum . . . on an instrumentthat produces brief, plucked sounds” (p.73)? Murail found his answer in the ras-gueado, a patterned strumming techniquepervasive in flamenco music. He then be-gan experimenting with this texture, diver-sifying its strummed patterns and develop-ing a system of symbols for the rasgueadotechniques he extended by combiningthem with other techniques such as trills orhammer-ons. As the book documents,Murail developed the complex texture ofTellur by means of a variety of such combi-nations. For example, one passage of thework combines the left-hand technique ofchanging tunings during performance witha continuous right hand rasgueado playedover the open strings (p. 27). Another pas-sage calls for simultaneous execution of theBartók pizzicato with the right hand on theopen sixth string and a more delicate pizzi-cato plucked with the left hand on theopen second string. Further examples in-clude the combination of left-hand doubletrills with right hand arpeggios (p. 54) andthe gradual transition in the left hand fromnormal to harmonic pressure while execut-ing a slight glissando as the right hand per-forms a ritardando tremolo (p. 116). Whilethe book explores Tellur in greater detailthan is possible here, these passages throwlight on the introductory description ofMurail’s remarkable composition as a workthat “generates spectral phenomena spe-cific to the plucked strings of the guitar”(p. 12).A further unifying element of the book’scontent is its location of certain technicaland notational problems in historical con-Book Reviews 111AMERICAN MUSICRalph Kirkpatrick: Letters of the American Harpsichordist and Scholar.By Ralph Kirkpatrick, edited by Meredith Kirkpatrick. (Eastman Studiesin Music, vol. 117.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2014.[xv, 186 p. ISBN 9781580465014. $60.] Photographs, appendices, bibli-ography, discography, index.Meredith Kirkpatrick, the niece of therenowned harpsichordist and musicologistRalph Kirkpatrick, has compiled and pub-lished over one hundred and twenty lettersbetween her uncle and numerous corre-spondents, including fellow musicians, pa-trons, instrument builders, teachers, stu-dents, and family members. Most of theletters date from between the early 1930s,when Kirkpatrick was traveling extensivelyin Europe, and the late 1970s, by whichtime Kirkpatrick had gone completelyblind. These letters provide a fascinatingglimpse into the personal life of a profes-sional musician—one who, at times, en-thused with pleasure about performancesor particular works; and at others, demon-strated a testy impatience with builders,teachers, and collaborators. Kirkpatrick’scomplex relationships make this resourceparticularly useful for scholars interested inreconstructing the collaborative world ofmid-twentieth-century classical music in theUnited States. While a number of issues inthe book’s layout, exposition, and organiza-tion hinder its ultimate utility, these flawsdo not detract from its overall biographicalsignificance. text as a step toward providing solutions forperformers and composers of contempo-rary guitar music. Following a valuable sur-vey of key twentieth-century works for gui-tar (pp. 84–97), discussion of a harmonicdilemma in the “Ave Regina” fromWebern’s Drei Lieder, op. 18 provides one ofthe book’s finest moments. The quandaryhere is that Webern failed to indicatewhere and how the harmonics in this com-position are to be performed—and it com-plicates matters that the guitar offers multi-ple options for the execution of a singleharmonic. This section of the book guidesthe performer carefully through each avail-able option. One choice is rejected becauseit “would depart too much from the 12-tone equal temperament that was standardpractice for Webern’s compositions” (p.104). Another falls short because it wouldgenerate a tonal color at odds with that ofthe clarinet in this ensemble. But the ap-propriate choice would generate a delicatesound to blend with the soft dynamic levelsof the clarinet at this point in the composi-tion and would thus contribute to a distinc-tive “vibrating, buzzing texture” that is justright for this music (p. 104). From thisproblem for performers, the book moveson to detailed coverage of the challengescomposers face in the notation of harmon-ics in contemporary music for the guitar.Provision of a clear and precise system inthis regard (p. 116) represents but one ex-ample of the extensive and authoritativeguidance this book provides composers inapproaching the knotty problems that writ-ing for the guitar unfailingly presents. Andit should be emphasized in this regard thatthe book is especially attentive to myriadpractical matters, from the introductory de-scription of the physical instrument and itsresonant qualities through the mysteries ofbi-tone dynamics, tapping notation, andbent-string tuning. Such insightful, sensitive guidance onthe technical, stylistic, and aesthetic dimen-sions of the contemporary guitar and itsmusic is characteristic of the enlightening,authoritative manner in which The Tech -niques of Guitar Playing surveys a body ofmusic that is no doubt familiar to few butpotentially engaging to many. Withoutquestion, the combined perspectives of gui-tarist Seth F. Josel and composer MingTsao is informed by superb collaborationnot only in their creation and performanceof contemporary music for the guitar butalso in their commitment to scholarship onits behalf.William M. NelsonUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro

Techniques of Guitar Playing [Review]

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/W_Nelson_Techniques_2016.pdf

Techniques of Guitar Playing [Review]

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro