blog – Page 6

Veet Ohnemus and Pune: Rekindled Senses

August 19, 2015

by Jayant S

The last two weeks saw an unprecedented enlivening of the classical guitar world in Pune.

Veet Ohnemus visited us from Germany, along with his Heubner guitar, a long and diverse recording and performing career at his fingertips, considerable cheerfulness and a patient, humorous outlook on life.

I’d first met Veet during his stay in Pune in the late 1990’s, and had taken a few lessons from him. I was meeting him for the first time since then. He didn’t seem a day older though. Veda, Kuldeep and I discussed the outline of a recital which we’d been able to arrange for him, as well as tentative plans for a presentation/masterclass session. And, of course, we were interested in lessons for ourselves.

During these two weeks, Veda, Kuldeep and I had the opportunity for two learning sessions with Veet. His teaching approach focused a lot on finer bio-mechanical nuances and their impact on tone, and on a more comprehensive understanding of harmonic movement in composition. While Veet’s focus as a teacher is totally unrelenting and he pays incessant attention to detail, somehow I always came out of these long sessions wanting to play more and more.

Veet performed at a recital which was arranged with the Gyaan Adab Center. We were taken by surprise at the number of people who attended, and the intense concentration with which they received a program of 20th century Argentinian and Brazilian guitar music, including works by Cardoso, Piazzola and Assad. Veet obviously prefers modern guitar music, with all its tonal variety, dynamic range and textural diversity, but his interpretations have a way of being very accessible to listeners and consistently expressive across styles. I was, of course, fascinated by his rendition of Sergio Assad’s magnificent Fantasia Carioca, a fiendishly difficult and yet musically sublime work. which Veet has also recorded for his Youtube channel.

Finally, towards the end of his stay, Veet was the focus of a one-day presentation and masterclass session organised at Enoch Harold’s new establishment in Pune. He took a group of attending guitarists through a systematic discussion on the connection between the body, the guitar and the music, making everyone closely aware of the impact that even slight changes in posture, hand position and the deployment of effort can have on musical expression. The second session familiarised participants with structure in Bach’s music, the nuances of Glenn Gould’s piano interpretations, and ways in which Astor Piazzola’s ensemble writings have been arranged effectively for a single guitar. Without actually saying so, Veet emphasised the need for guitarists to listen “beyond the instrument” – to not become too preoccupied with the instrument, its repertoire and its technical demands – but to hear and think about music as a far greater world, with its rich and threaded history and cultural presence. Apart from these discussions, Veet was his usual patient and engrossed self even when listening to young beginner guitarists, to whom he had plenty of good advice to offer.

For me, personally, this short encounter with Veet was a vindication of some of my own self-learned musical directions, while revealing opportunities for focused improvement in the future. We certainly hope he visits again, as he has that rare combination of articulate teaching and superlative recital abilities, and can also be an uproariously funny guy to talk with!

Weblinks for Veet J Ohnemus:
http://www.veetguitar.de/english/
https://www.youtube.com/user/veetguitar/videos

Veet’s rendition of Jongo by Bellinati which he played at Gyaan Adab – a nice example of folk mixolydian influences seeping into serious music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtEBKte5fxY

Photos from the concert at Gyaan Adab:

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Photos from the workshop at Enoch Guitars:

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PGS Meet #2 – An Exciting playing/listening session!!

June 19, 2015

The Pune Music Society 2^nd Meet was on the 14^th June.

We had our first public recital the evening before that at The Loft (more about that in a separate post!). At the Meet this time, we had some new people who came to play, listen to music and become a part of the Pune Guitar Society.

We had a short round of discussion about the objectives and purpose of the PGS for people who came in for the first time and then we quickly moved to the music!

Just when we were about to do that, Pune’s own luthier Enoch Harold made his way in with a vibe which would engage us for the next couple or three hours! He talked passionately about guitar construction, guitar wood and its characteristics, guitar making history and current trends. Everyone was completely involved and trying to assimilate all this great stuff! (For getting in touch with Enoch, please visit – https://www.facebook.com/enochguitars)

Inspiring and wonderful – This was the very young Eesha! She is an amazing player! She could remember pieces from Grade 6, 2, 1 from her Trinity Exams! She has great promise and we wish to hear her play more and more!

Veda Aggarwal played the Bach very well. She always manages to take us into a different sonic space with her Bach playing! Veda, with her incessant energy and beautiful playing will always be a musician to look out for wherever she is playing!

Back to Enoch! Enoch is a flamenco player along with being a luthier. He played different forms from Flamenco music, the Soleares, Farruca, Bulerias etc. His energetic playing got all of us almost on our feet! Shekhar came to listen to Flamenco rasgueados! He was sitting right in front of Enoch and did not utter a word till the gig was over, he was all ears and intently listening!

Jacob, Amit and Shekhar are starting on the guitar and played their pieces very confidently! The PGS is all about playing in front of everybody! It what we love to do!

Last, but not the least, our friend and mentor Jayant Sankrityayana recorded the whole session with his audio equipment. We sincerely thank him for this!

Rajan Barrett, based in Baroda came along with his friend and participated in the discussion and listening sessions. Towards the end, he played some pieces.

There were Puneri patties and some cool drinks to round it off!

All in all, a very inspiring and promising Meet #2 and we look forward to meeting everybody in the next session! Lots more coming up in July and August!

Keep playing and listening!

PGS

Some thoughts and guidelines going forward

May 19, 2015

By Jayant Sankrityayana

1. The beginning was very positive. There is obviously a “critical mass” of interested guitarists in the Pune/Mumbai sector who can make this Society viable.

2. The next meeting could be more organised in terms of specific activity/timings – possibly as:
– Formal PGS discussion based on a prearranged agenda
– Individual recitals
– Masterclass (if any)
– Presentations (if any)
– Closing disccussion and informal exchanges
Each phase should be clearly demarcated. It is particularly important to provide each recitalist (regardless of level) a formal opportunity to perform, with proper attention, time to warm up and tune, and a quiet setting. We could define proper audience etiquette here – this will help those who are nervous about playing for others.

3. Video shooting or audio recording of recitalists should ONLY be done with their permission, and the video clips should then become the property of the PGS and not be freely circulated.

4. Good audio recordings can be made – Jayant S can do this on a Tascam D100. We need to have a PGS-owned HD archive (duplicated for backup).

5. If we do build up a compendium of superlative performances on audio/video, it will be worth putting them up on Youtube through a a specific PGS user ID. However, these will need to be selected for quality – as they serve as a worldwide heads-up to the overall CG community on what is happening at the PGS. The best of the recitalists could be endorsed for a PMS event too. If funds/sponsorships are feasible in future, promising young students could be sent for attendance at other IGF events in the country.

6. Those of us who can run masterclasses, should do so. A live masterclass is a good way to offer constructive advice to new players – without everyone in the session providing “feedback” which could be difficult to integrate.

7. Presentations can be based around the music – less regarding the “history” or “biographical” aspects – but more towards introducing an understanding of detail in repertoire, musical influences (including trans-generic), compositional structure etc. Every member should be encouraged to do this, and PGS moderators should help make these accurate and effective.

8. PGS can define a core group of 4-5 volunteers who will look after specific areas (Veda is already the IGF link, for instance) including communication, agenda planning, recital/video filtering etc (more functions can be identified over time)

9. The core focus must remain as CG, but PGS can invite presentations/recitals by other instrumentalists (who should be selected for quality). If these are from a non Western classical music background, then they (or someone else) should link the possible musical relevance to CG. The objective is to gradually wean CGists away from the somewhat limited and exclusive focus on their own repertoire.

10. Finally – if anyone is interested in composition or transcription we could mentor and encourage the process – particularly if something can be put together for a guitar ensemble, or guitar with other instruments.

PGS Meet #1: A blog post

May 18, 2015

by Veda Aggarwal

[Show slideshow]

You know you’ve got something good even before it begins when guitarists from Bombay promise to drive down for the first Pune Guitar Society meeting. They called from Lonavala at half past nine, with a McDonald’s breakfast on the way and instructions for me to send them the location pin. I phoned Kuldeep and asked him to send his across.

Like most things that are just about to begin, there was an excited, almost nervous energy leading up to it: fingers crossed, hoping for things to go well, for people to show up, for us to get along, and for whatever we start to have the momentum to continue. But people who signed up for it, started dropping out. From about 15 people we were down to a little more than half that number. On that morning, I was late.

Just as I was turning into the lane, Rahel called. She was in the area with her mother and sister looking for the place. We were to meet in Kuldeep’s house. I picked her up. It was a few minutes before 11. And within the next 20 minutes the rest arrived: Rohan Aiman, Mahesh Kochar and Cliffy D’Souza from Bombay. Jacob, Jayant Sankrityayana from Pune. And Rahoul Waghmare – a luthier based in Nigdi Pradhikaran. Some knew each other. But for most us, introductions were required.

Classical guitarists are isolated musicians. For us, meeting someone who has the same interests, who holds the guitar in a similar way, knows the same composers is exciting in itself. A large part of Saturday morning was just that: getting to know each other, other classical guitarists, supported by a joyful energy that said there are others like us, who are looking for the same sort of exposure and learning, that we’re not in this alone.

It began with people talking about their own background and moved on to a conversation of what to do with a group like ours. What do we want from a society? How do we form one? What do we do once we’re registered?

There was no debate as to whether we should go ahead with registration. Everyone agreed that this is the way forward. There was talk of being more inclusive, inviting guitarists of other genres, musicians who play other instruments to join and conduct events. Rohan suggested opening membership to non-classical guitarists, an idea that was greeted with enthusiasm. But keep the focus on classical guitar, Rahoul said and repeated in course of the conversation. There is a lot of opportunity for guitarists who want to play other styles. Classical guitar needs more outlets.

We decided on monthly concerts. Kuldeep spoke about the benefits of performing once a month, even if it is only for each other we all have the opportunity to gain from playing in public and additional reasons to practise.

And then the guitars came out. Rahoul had brought two with him. Aqualib Guitars – named for him and his brother, an Aquarius and a Libra. One was brand new, will be up for sale in a month. In the urgency of getting it ready for the meeting, Rahoul stayed up nights till 3am working on it, and the day before the gear on the tuning peg of the D string broke.

The other guitar was two years old. We tried it out. Resonant, loud, said Mahesh. Everyone performed a little and Rahoul took small videos on his phone camera. That was how it ended. With small pieces of classical guitar music ringing in our ears, and a decision to meet again on the 14 of June.