Hey!

Hey! 

Welcome to issue 11/24 of our newsletter.

After focusing very specifically on one topic in each of the last few issues, this issue is a little wilder again.

We take you on a ride from Johann Sebastian Bach to Celtic and Scottish music to an interview on the subject of social media and guitar. Who could answer our questions better than Beatrix Kovács – a guitarist who has become highly successful on the platforms herself in a very short time?

This time we have sheet music from Christian Leonardo Zack and finally, our “Guitar and…” category takes us to Paris for the last time this summer. 

But read for yourself…

Have fun,

Stefan & Willi 

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
Dariusz Lampkowski plays Bach BWV 998

Darius Lampkowski plays the Prelude and Allegro from BWV 998 by Johann Sebastian Bach with great calm and elegance. We are impressed by the serene sound that he gives the prelude and by how beautifully the lines can be followed. In the ensuing Allegro, the fingers fly over the fingerboard without disappearing and yet the calmness of the inner pulse and the great musical arcs never disappear for even a moment. 

The impressive thing about this video of the week is that it is nothing special in itself. The camera is just a fixed frontal shot. It's all about the great interpretation! Despite all the joy that the professionalization of classical music videos has brought us, we are going back to the roots today. And have selected a performance video. :)

But back to the piece: This composition by Bach is of course no stranger and in the modern guitar version it’s also always associated with Julian Bream’s 1978 BBC recording.

Dariusz has found his own tasteful version of the piece and we highly recommend you check it out. 

SHEET MUSIC
Christian Leonardo Zack – Un Valsecito de Medianoche

Christian Leonardo Zack cannot be pigeonholed as either a professional or an artist. This is demonstrated by the fact that he is a guitarist, composer and guitar maker all rolled into one. In his world, pretty much everything revolves around timbres. Created using a wide variety of playing techniques or self-made instruments – some traditional, some unconventional (e.g. box guitar). Different world music influences feed his creativity again and again. Half Chilean and half German, he has a broadened horizon ever since he was born. We are delighted that this exceptional artist – who has also won prizes in international guitar and composition competitions – is giving us a little insight into his world with his miniature “Un Valsecito de Medianoche”.

“The rhythm of this piece is like a mixture of Joropo Venezolano, Chacarera from Argentina and Peruvian waltz. These combinations can of course also be found in Chilean folklore.” Let yourself be whisked away to Latin America with this piece. At least we felt this slightly melancholic and yet light-footedly vibe directly while playing.

For more Information about Christian follow him on Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/share/9ABdhp7M8Hxjy4Gm/
…and on Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/zackolazuli/

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
JKL DUO - The International Poet

“The International Poet”. Our album of the week. A small premiere, because this time it's not just guitar. It's a duo album: guitar and flute. No “Histoire du Tango” for once (with all our love for this composition). ;)

The very first track on the LP blows us away. Laura Snowden's arrangement of Robert Burns' “Breton Fantasy on Ye Jacobites” is beautifully Celtic/folky and imaginative. Yes, this is about the melodies of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns. Various artists have made arrangements for the instrumentation. It's a lot of fun to listen to. And it must have been just as much fun to record it. You can hear that in every track. JKL Duo have really produced something here. Check out the “Auld Lang Syne Samba” (!!!). And this is not the only arrangement that puts you in a great mood. And then there are the wonderfully lyrical moments like in “The Lea Rig”. 

That’s enough spoilers now. Do listen to it. It’s an incredibly good album!

KNOW-HOW 
with Beatrix Kovács

Beatrix Kovács is a Hungarian classical guitarist based in Budapest. She began her musical journey at a young age and has since won numerous international competitions during her academic years. Beatrix has performed across Europe, and has also released her debut album Journey in 2022 with the support of her amazing online community, showcasing the versatility of classical guitar repertoire. In addition to performing, Beatrix is dedicated to teaching, as she is creating educational content regularly on her YouTube channel.

She gained a huge number of followers on YouTube, Instagram and other platforms. So we are very happy that Beatrix was so kind to answer our questions since she’s become one of THE experts in that field.

How did you start with social media? Was there an initial moment?

It was the early months of the pandemic, my university was under lockdown, I was staying with my boyfriend and while everybody around me had jobs and stuff to do, all of the sudden I didn't have much to do. My boyfriend saw guitarists streaming on Reddit, and suggested I try it out. That's how it started, I just pulled up my old potato phone and started. It was horrible quality and the image looked more like stop motion than a video livestream. But I loved it, and people enjoyed listening to classical guitar as well. So I kept going, I showed up on Reddit regularly. Chatters started to ask me if I had a YouTube channel, or an album, or a place where they can support me, so I started to set up all my other platforms and over time it grew to be what it is now.

Do you have any favorite format or platform (Twitch, Insta, Podcast, YouTube, TikTok) and how do you prioritize? (How much time do you spend a week approximately?)

I absolutely prefer the long form over the short form. I also mostly just consume long videos. Livestreams and podcasts are where I feel most comfortable, but I do love making longer talking videos as well. As a chronic people pleaser, I love to feel useful and helpful to my community, so I feel most fulfilled when I make something educational. It's hard to say how much time I dedicate to this per week, but to make one educational video that's around 15 minutes takes me around 15-20 hours of total work (from idea generation to scripting, recording, title, thumbnail, editing, publishing and cross-platform promoting, etc.). I just started to work with an editor recently, meaning that I have some extra time now, which I can use to elevate the quality of my work in other areas.

What was the most exciting thing that happened to you because of social media?

Community building. Never expected to meet and talk to so many wonderful people. I made real friends and met people who I can count on. And maybe another thing is that people are actually very helpful. I always struggled to ask for help, I thought I needed to solve everything alone. But the truth is, if you have genuinely good intentions with the things you make, you'll find people who are happy to take part and contribute. Just knowing that there are like minded people around the world who are happy to be in your little community is so precious, and when I started to share my music online, I never knew this was a possible outcome. I always thought in the best case, people will like my music and will listen to what I do. And yeah, I got that, but also so much more.

Do you have any tips for guitarists who want to improve their social media presence?

I think people are sick of gurus who "know the best" and are always polished. We need real people on social media. If you’ve done something or learned something, talk about it on a camera. Or show it. That's it. But present it in a genuine way. You don't need to be perfect, no one expects you to be. People want to see real human beings. I purposefully leave mistakes in my videos, like when I want to show a technique and I mess it up on the first try. And you know what? I get messages saying how much people appreciate it, because those moments make them feel more comfortable about their own imperfections. So just be genuine, and don't forget that it's not all about you, but also about the people who you're trying to reach.

Imagine you could have one sentence printed on a poster to be put up in huge numbers at all the (classical) music festivals in the world. What sentence would that be?

Be nice, we all are in the same team.

Connect with Beatrix and check out her latest videos:
https://www.beatrixguitar.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/BeatrixGuitar

Or listen to her podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@beatrixguitar/podcasts
https://ohsheet.buzzsprout.com/

GUITAR AND…
String Quartet

“Someday in Paris” is a wonderfully sentimental and at the same time highly virtuoso composition. The jazz and flamenco-influenced melodies and the rhythmic liveliness almost have a song-like quality. Incidentally, you can hear the composer Cristian Marcia himself on the guitar here. Perhaps one of the best discoveries to enjoy the hot summer in its final stages, to say goodbye and look back.

Find all of Cristian Marcia’s sheet music here:
https://productionsdoz.com/en/catalog/all/all/marcia-cristian

OUTRO

We hope you enjoyed this issue. As always, please send us your feedback and suggestions by e-mail in response to this newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you!

All the best,

Stefan & Willi 

New Classical Guitar is a newsletter by Willi Leinen and Stefan Degel from TMBM. You can find our music and more information about our journey at http://t-m-b-m.com/.

On Spotify, we curate a playlist with our favorite pieces. Feel free to follow our New Classical Guitar Playlist at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZwxJRAsW9Zs2JiS2eLy6a?si=9b2a737f01c043a4 and recommend new additions.