I am a frequent reader of the 'Online Arts Journal in North Carolina'. For the past three years my wife and I have attended the Easter Music Festival held in Greensboro, NC to hear my our son with their orchestras. Last year the Online Arts Journal began reviews of the EMF concerts which in turn caught my attention to this wonderful resource. I wish the the Commonwealth of Kentucky had such a fine go-to website for arts activities to the level of this Arts Journal!
Having said that I recently came across an interesting review of an EMF classical guitar program by writer Nicholas Rich. It wasn't so much the review as a lengthy commentary on why classical guitarists such set aside sigmas associated with using amplification in recitals and concerts.
Over the past two years I have come to the conclusion that Rich is absolutely on the right track regarding the amplification of nylon-string guitars! When I do perform guitar it is which my Fishman acoustic guitar amp. For all the reasons Rich points out in this fine editorial is why I will never perform classical guitar without amplification.
Editorial: "A Call to Action for Guitarists"
In my review above, I qualified the fine performances by Kami Rowan and Julian Gray by mentioning the classical guitar's extreme softness. Out of respect to them and the other performers on the program, I chose not to include a lengthier discussion of the issue in the review itself, and instead submit this editorial for the readers' consideration.
After attending countless performances like this one, watching fine musicians work so hard for so little, I can no longer stay silent about the guitar's lack of volume: the guitar, in its current form, is simply not a concert instrument.
I myself am a guitarist. Although I play steel strings and their associated repertoire, I empathize strongly with the dilemma faced by Rowan and Gray and their nylon strings. In close proximity, the guitar is extraordinarily complex and resonant, capable of rich piano-like sustain that makes a violin's pizzicato sound puny. I often describe the guitar as combining the best features of piano and violin. But in a large concert hall, the guitar sounds like a child's toy. From my seat in the eighth row, not even a third of the distance from the stage to the rear of Dana Auditorium, I struggled to hear details. When the guitarists played solo passages, most of that sustain was drowned out by the air conditioning. And when the other instruments played? Forget about it. With each stroke, there was a feeble hint of attack, followed by nothing.
I am not pointing out this incredible lack of volume as an indictment against these extraordinary players, their beautiful instrument, and its huge and varied repertoire. I mention it only because I know how overwhelming the guitar can be when held in the hands, and I wish that concert hall audiences could hear and feel even a fraction of that sound. Right now, they don't. It's been my experience time and again that in anything more than an intimate room, the loudest sounds from the guitar, by far, are the squeaks of the left hand sliding along the strings and the percussive slaps from an aggressive strum or rasgueado. Fine guitarists like Rowan and Gray have invested far too much time and energy into their technique for those feeble sounds alone to be representative of their musicianship.
So, after all that complaining, do I have a solution? Yes. I believe that in medium and large halls, the guitar should be amplified by default. Even on Sor. Even on Bach. Even on de Visee.
Amplifying the nylon-string guitar isn't a revolutionary idea. It's done regularly in toque/flamenco styles, and amplification is sometimes requested by contemporary composers who write for the classical guitar, especially in combination with other instruments. I also realize that that guitarists have been discussing the issue for years, with figures as prominent as English superstar guitarist John Williams advocating for sensible amplification in large halls.
So why are there still so few guitarists regularly using amplification? I have heard the following charges: that amplification doesn't preserve the sound of the instrument, that amplified guitar doesn't blend well with non-amplified instruments, and that amplification is a historically inappropriate choice for performing Baroque and Classical repertoire.
As to the first charge, contemporary
microphone and pickup technology is extraordinary. This is the 21st
century. If it's a clear, neutral, and transparent tone you need, you
can have it, and at a reasonable price. There are a multitude of
choices, from external microphones to internal pickup systems, and they
all have the potential to be excellent. In fact, I contend that in a
large concert hall, a well-amplified guitar is far more representative
of the instrument's actual sound than are the feeble squeaks of an
unamplified guitar. Blending amplified and non-amplified instruments is
more of an issue, and one that should be taken seriously. But it's been
my experience that experimenting with proximity and careful volume
control produces great results. A small amplifier placed very near the
performer on stage can blend seamlessly with other instruments. The
larger the hall, the better the proximity trick works. Another option
becoming more widespread is the hemispherical speaker, which uses a
multitude of small drivers. These project much less directionally and
sound much more transparent than conventional drivers.
Finally, we come to the historicist argument. I understand that to some performers, it just doesn't feel "right" to play Bach and de Visée through an amplifier. But there have already been huge changes to the instrument's design, construction, and technique. Today guitarists mostly use nylon strings rather than gut, use single strings rather than courses of multiple strings, play lute music on guitar, play on instruments that are braced and proportioned very differently from their historical predecessors, with different tunings and a vastly superior technique. Why not go all the way and make those newfangled instruments loud? I guarantee that it will still sound closer to the original than a piano does to a harpsichord (a substitution made every day in every university by every collegiate piano student).
I must reiterate that I love the guitar and its repertoire, and that love is the cause for my complaining. Attending yet another concert in which some of the instrument's finest proponents struggled to even be heard was the last straw. Their awesome musicianship deserves better. The instrument and the repertoire deserve better. I patiently await the day when I get to hear one enterprising player get up on stage, plug in, and rip through a Bach lute suite at grand-piano volumes.
Nicholas Rich
July 21, 2016
Full review see the link below!
More Fine EMF Faculty, and a Call to Action for Guitarists
The main Arts Journal link is below!
Online Arts Journal in North Carolina
