February 2022

February begins with snow on the ground and bone chilling temperatures here in New Jersey. This month's newsletter includes a new short piece, the death of a beloved guitar & the arrival of a new guitar, and music inspired by my favorite poet.

February's Free Short Piece

This month's short piece/study is a chorale. The primary focus when playing this is to make sure each voice is heard clearly. It should be played as legato as possible. Dynamics are left up to the player's discretion. 

Chorale - Standard Notation

Chorale - Standard Notation & TAB

MIDI MP3

The Death of a Beloved Guitar

&

The Arrival of a New Guitar

During the winter, my high school classroom is a fiery inferno of cranked up heat. Making matters worse is the fact that my thermostat controls the entire wing of my building, so I am strongly advised to not open my windows which would cause the heat to constantly run. I was told the solution for this problem was..."well just use your air conditioner". Let that sink in...

So a couple weeks ago while sitting at my desk, the bridge exploded off one of the guitars and the top cracked. It scared the crap out of me. Was it one of the Yamaha school guitars? No...of course not. It was my beloved Guild GAD cedar/rosewood classical guitar. I bought this guitar the year before I developed my high school program. Despite multiple humidipaks in the guitar and case, it just gave out. It was devastating. 

I have a back up for school...and old R. Sanchis Carpio cedar/rosewood that I bought used a while back. It's beat up and well worn, but plays really well and has a big warm tone. Needless to say, it will never stay in my classroom during the winter.

I have been playing and writing primarily on my classical over the last couple years. The plan has been to record some of my new music on nylon strings later this year.

So I picked up a Kenny Hill Player Series...

I had played a Kenny Hill Player Series guitar a while back and was blown away with the quality. The Player Series is part of Kenny Hill's New World Guitar Company. Unlike the KH signature/performance guitars, New World Guitars are built in China (by builders trained by Kenny) and then inspected and set up at his shop in California. These are factory built guitars that are made incredibly well and their sound/playability far exceed their price.

($1575 - $2250 price range. You can add sound ports and elevated fingerboard)

Kenny Hill New World Player Spruce/Rosewood P650S 

I have to give a shout out to luthier and shop owner Chuck Marfione at Marfione Guitars & All Strings Nylon. 

Chuck called me immediately after I ordered the guitar to make certain that I was familiar with the guitar and builder. He gave the guitar a comprehensive set up and new strings before shipping. He even included a print out of every detail of the set up, including pictures of the process. 

I highly recommend checking out Chuck's shop if you need anything related to nylon string guitars. 

Marfione Guitars

All Strings Nylon

Leonard Nathan's Influence

A lot of my music is inspired by poetry. Many song titles come directly from my favorite poems or prose. 

Leonard Nathan is one of my absolute favorite poets. His poetry is almost conversational and always seems to extract emotion from below the surface of often mundane objects and circumstances. 

My piece titled "Leonard Nathan Speaks Softly" is attached to this newsletter as a free download. This track opens my "Belonging Just Where You Are" release. There is also an abbreviated version that comes as a reprise to close out the album. 

The piece is constructed of short phrases like a poem, with space in between, giving each phrase time to hang in the air before settling. Tom Eaton's genius production helps the music gently breathe as it takes its time to develop.

This piece is in standard tuning. Notation/TABs are available on my website.

A few of my favorite poetry collections by Leonard Nathan 

Dear Blood (1980)

Holding Patterns (1982)

 Carrying On (1985)

Just a reminder that all of my music is available on all streaming sites. You can also find me on Bandcamp.

CDs and Notation/TABs can be purchased on my website. 

You can purchase my new book of studies here:

Ten Studies for Classical Guitar - Vol. 1 (Standard Notation Edition)

*Standard/TAB PDF edition available on my website

As always...thanks for listening and for your continued support. Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who may enjoy the music and want to join the mailing list.

Spring is 47 days away. Baseball is near. Maybe I'll be able to stomach watching the Pirates this year. ...probably not.

See you in March.

Cheers,

Vin

"Great you're done...can we eat now?"