I record the passing of a legend – Ronnie James Dio – a stellar figure that illuminated the heavy metal universe with a voice that belied his stature. A monumental inspiration in my earlier days.

May you keep rocking wherever you are.

The Last in Line

We Rock

Don’t Talk to Strangers

Rainbow In the Dark

I have very belatedly discovered Gil Scott-Heron through his new album – I’m New Here.

Check out the Guardian Exclusive Preview here, the page where I got this embedded player.

Good stuff.

In an email to me, Rob shared that he took special satisfaction in the videos below as “Passing Clouds” would never see the light of day unless Rob played the music himself. “Passing Clouds” is an original work composed in 1997 and revised in 2009 for the presentation below. It consists of guitar characterizations of five haiku poems by Miyako Kimura, a former student of Rob. A photo of Miyako, the author of “Passing Clouds” appears at the end of the second video.

Fortunately, we have some record of the composer playing his own music and how he approaches the mood of the piece. Check out the fingering, tone colour and harmonics in this remarkable piece. If any future intrepid guitarist attempts this piece, he or she would be consoled and perhaps encouraged by the fact that the composer himself had a difficult time learning how to play this piece, and an even harder time attempting to commit it to memory! “Passing Clouds” was in Rob’s words “truly a monster” despite the simplicity of the haiku poems being characterised.

A few words about Rob. Rob has always been intrigued by why classical guitar pedagogy had lagged so far behind the pedagogy for other classical instruments e.g. the violin or even instruments with a shorter history than the guitar e.g. the saxophone. He has spent the greater part of his life developing a classical guitar method that he could continually refine and teach for a life time.

A significant part of Rob’s method has to do with the right hand. In Rob’s view, the right hand is very much “the stuff out of which technique is made.” Rob observed that amongst primates, we Homo Sapiens have evolved the best hands for playing the guitar. “Thank Heavens for opposable thumbs!”, as Rob is fond of saying. But possessing hands best-suited for the guitar is not the same as having hands purpose-built for the classical guitar.

Rob’s method is designed to free our right-hand thumb, fingers and wrist from the constraints of our evolutionary heritage e.g. the natural tendency of the right hand wrist to straighten itself and consequently prevent the thumb from generating the most efficient force upon the strings and hampering its ability to “lead” the other fingers. In Rob’s words, “Sufficient – and sufficiently flexible – tone production by the right hand requires a determined slog against the overwhelming evolutionary tendency to do hand work with a stiff wrist.” Click here for an illustration more information on Rob’s guitar method. [Edit made for accuracy on 17 Dec 09]

Rob is also driven by a desire to not let the beauty and exciting possibilities of the classical guitar be eclipsed by the guitar as found in contemporary pop and rock music. With “Passing Clouds”, Rob demonstrates that classical guitar music and the images found therein can be as exciting as anything in contemporary pop music.

Luse plays Luse: Passing Clouds (Part 1)

Luse plays Luse: Passing Clouds (Part 2)

Robert Luse, the best classical guitar teacher in Singapore posts on youtube the first video “in a new category of original solo works for classic guitar” composed and performed by him. This performance is meant to “demonstrate that contemporary music offers distinct and compelling images, equal to anything in the classics”.

Because of modern technology, it is now possible to leave a record for posterity and see how the composer plays his composition. Or how Luse plays Luse.

It is always a treat to see a former teacher play. And ironically, I’ve never seen Rob play so much guitar when I was a student. But I’m not complaining, just looking forward to him posting more of his performances on youtube. I hope you enjoy this video performance too.

Luse plays Luse: Isadora (just is)

I last blogged about the Sweet Hollywaiians 2 years ago in this post. I’ve just received an email 11 days ago that they have released a new album “Ticklin’ The Strings” available at CDbaby.com.

The Sweet Hollywaiians are an amazing Japanese hot string band playing 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s style hawaiian, swing, calypso, blues, italian music and originals,featuring
vintage instruments. It’s very happy music that is guaranteed to make you smile. Check out the promotional video below.

Sweet Hollywaiians / My Girl From The South Sea Isles

It’s either guitar, tai chi, reading, running or blogging for me. Today, and last night, it’s blogging.

Affiliated Artistes, and ArtistWorks the people who brought you the Jimmy Bruno Guitar Institute, now bring you the Andreas Oberg Guitar Universe.

I believe the AOGU was officially launched about 3 weeks ago, on 20 June 2009, when I received an email notification that the AOGU was open for enrollment. Marketing for the site began as early as November 2008 (see the pdf press release here). In April 2009, a marketing video was launched on youtube (see below).

Andreas Guitar Universe Trailer

Click here for a sample lesson. Both Jimmy Bruno and Andreas Oberg are great players and they both take an interactive approach to teaching guitar online where they give feedback on student submitted videos. However, they both have very different approaches. A quick difference I could discern was that Jimmy Bruno doesn’t advocate learning licks (focussing more on the finger-ear connection) while there are some lick oriented lessons on the Andreas Oberg Guitar Universe. I would be happy to receive comments from readers who have subscribed to both the JBGI and the AOGU comparing similarities and differences between the two sites.

I was referred to these videos via two posts in the Jimmy Bruno Guitar Institute forums.

Did you know that you can make wonderful music to the sound of a tractor running?

Neither did I.

The videos below gave me some good cheer. Perhaps, you might find them amusing too.

Sweet Georgia Brown & traktor (edited version)

Olle Hemmingsson´s Trio

I would like to introduce the best classical guitar teacher in Singapore. His name is Robert Luse. I’ve had the honour and privilege of studying with Mr. Luse and he was definitely by far the best music teacher I’ve had in Singapore. Here are a few videos of him playing some short classical pieces. On his youtube page, you can also see videos of his students playing the classical guitar.

Lagrima (Tears) by F. Tarrega

Sonatina in C by N. Paganini

Prelude No. 1 in E Minor by H. Villa-Lobos

Study in B Minor by F. Sor

Studies in G and A Minor by D. Aguado

You are the sunshine of my life (with Stephane Grapelli)

Girl Talk by Neal Hefti

And finally my favourite Martin Taylor video, where both of him plays.

Drop Me Off In Harlem

Before this weekend is gone forever, here’s a video of three great pianists – Duke Ellington, Willie the Lion and Billy Taylor.