Hey!

Our last issue for this year revolves, unsurprisingly, around Christmas and the holidays. In our YouTube Find, we have a fine arrangement as a teaser for a related LP, the Album of the Week is a recently released new recording of Royal Winter Music by Hans Werner Henze, and Leon has also put another gift under the tree for us, in the form of sheet music. And how could it be otherwise: the Feel-good Tune also comes in familiar Christmas vibes, albeit more folky than one might expect. For young guitarists interested in chamber music there’s something special to read in the Interview of the week, and…

…we would like to take this opportunity to thank our growing readership and for the increasing number of suggestions, feedback, and guitar-related material we receive. The newsletter is becoming more and more what we wanted it to be.

Feel free to continue sending us suggestions and links to your albums and videos via Insta: @tmbm_guitar 
Otherwise, we are already looking forward to researching the first issue of the new year. Once again, we have discovered a lot of new things this year, listened to great albums, watched equally great videos, and interviewed some truly inspiring musicians.

We hope you enjoy today's issue!

Stefan und Willi

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
with Simon Farintosh

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is not only our wish for you, but also part of a 24-track Christmas guitar album that we would like to recommend for your guitar-enhanced holidays. But not just because it's guitar music. Rather because it's Christmas, because it's peaceful, because it's cozy. And then, yes, also because it's guitar music and because of Simon Farintosh – because his album has all of that.

In that sense, today's video is a teaser for a Christmas album that we think you should consider for the holidays: Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
with Georgi Dimitriv-Jojo

Snow-covered conifers, ice crystals glistening in the sun, a gentle hilly landscape covered with a soft white blanket. How could this image of a winter landscape be expressed in music?

On his newly released album Tales of Being, Georgi Dimitrov-Jojo paints such a nuanced, crystal-clear picture that it's easy to lose yourself in the details. With a fine brush, he brings two outstanding composers of their time together on one canvas: John Dowland and Hans-Werner Henze. The latter incorporated characters from Shakespeare's works into two sonatas called “Royal Winter Music.” Georgi combines pieces from the first sonata with Dowland's fantasies such as “A Fancy P. 1a” and “Forlorn Hope” in a well-thought-out sequence of tracks.

Light a candle, pour yourself a cup of mulled wine, and enjoy this special painting for the ears!

MORNING-ROUTINE
A coffee with Leon Albert

Hi Leon, what’s the routine for this week?

Don’t forget the melody!

KNOW-HOW
with Armin Kulla

Who actually writes pieces that beginners really want to play, for duos, trios, quartets, at beginner and intermediate levels? Our interview partner today, Armin Kulla, does just that: ensemble music that is pedagogically designed with modern playing techniques and intended for the ears and fingers of young guitar students. He taught in Bethlehem and Jerusalem for two years. From this time and many classrooms, Einmal um die Welt (Once Around the World) was born: 17 countries, 37 well-known melodies with a helpful difficulty compass. The interview focuses on the gap in the repertoire and the drive to close it, the very concrete approach to writing for ensembles, and the question of how to meaningfully incorporate world and crossover elements into teaching. We are very happy that Armin took the time to answer our questions – and perhaps the sheet music would also make a good Christmas present for young guitarists…

Hi Armin, you compose duets, trios, and quartets for lower and intermediate levels. Do you feel that this is neglected in the repertoire? What motivates you to write in this direction?
The challenge is to write interesting pieces when you are limited in your compositional possibilities. Pieces for beginners that sound exciting and feature modern playing techniques are rather rare. But that is exactly what motivates students. It is fun to play music that is close to your own listening habits. I try to implement this as best I can.

What is your approach when writing ensemble pieces for students? Do you follow an educational roadmap, or do you also indulge your artistic side? 
Totally educational. I always keep the appropriate level in mind. That means I write for the first position, without barrés, in easily readable keys, with rhythms that are as straightforward as possible, etc. But the trick is to turn vanilla ice cream into stracciatella, at least. Whether I succeed in doing so is for others to judge. By the way, Einmal um die Welt even has a compass that indicates the difficulty level of the songs. That way, everyone can find their way around easily.

You lived in Palestine for two years and taught in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. How did this time influence you musically? Did you develop your love for world music there?   
At that time, yes, but not anymore. In Bethlehem, I often played with Palestinian musicians and got to know the music that way. I arranged many well-known songs there for solo guitar. But now I no longer have any connection to it, and it would be inauthentic to continue doing so. Nevertheless, for Einmal um die Welt, I selected two folk songs from Lebanon that I also knew from Palestine.

A position as a guitar teacher for world music and crossover is quite rare. Like, explicitly, between classical and popular music/jazz. How do you implement this focus in your teaching?
Yes, at least in music schools, it's unique and still a work in progress. There is no beginner's repertoire in the field of world music. That's exactly why I wrote Einmal um die Welt. It covers 17 countries and 37 well-known folk songs and melodies. In terms of level, it's between the first year of lessons and the age groups levels 2–3 according to the scale of the German youth music competition Jugend musiziert (i.e. 11–14 years). By the way, I don't like the term “world music,” so I would say it's music from all over the world. As far as crossover is concerned, I try to find modern pieces. The Trinity College London books contain some great stuff by contemporary composers such as Gary Ryan, Nicholas Powlesland, Thomas Fellow... PS: I'm currently working on a solo guitar book with crossover compositions. But that's still a secret.

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?
Experience the best six-string instrument in the world.

Find the sheet music here: dux-verlag.de/Einmal-um-die-Welt

FEEL-GOOD TUNE OF THE WEEK
with Old Crow Medicine Show

An upbeat and positive melody! It makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning. Or take a look at the sky in the middle of the day. Stress? Bad news? Put on your headphones, let your hair blow in the wind and jump on the good mood train!

Our feel-good tune of the week!

OUTRO

Thank you for reading! Please send any suggestions or comments directly in response to this issue. In the first issue of the new year – we can reveal this much – there will be an exciting interview on the subject of guitar making.

New music discoveries – including from artists we wrote about in today's issue – can be found, as always, in our Spotify playlist for the newsletter, which we have linked below.

Be kind to one another.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas season.

Stay tuned for the next issue in January.

Stefan & Willi

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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.