I hope you will enjoy this note-for-note transcription of the wonderful Verde Selva by the great Flamenco guitarist, Juan Serrano, from his 1965 RCA Victor recording Popular Music of Spain and the Old World. Verde Selva is a rumba, a rhythmic dance that has its origins in Cuba, becoming a part of the flamenco tradition in the 19th century in Andalusia, Spain. The playing technique used by Serrano in Verde Selva is often referred to as Rumba Melodica due to its use of arpeggiated chords rather than the rhythmic strumming that is typically associated with rumbas. As it is typical for Flamenco guitarists to improvise and change their pieces with subsequent performances, Juan Serrano\'s Verde Selva evolved over the span of his career, resulting in two versions of the piece; the first, featured on the 1965 vinyl LP Popular Music of Spain and the Old World (the basis for this transcription) and the second, in the 1981 Mel Bay publication Juan Serrano - Flamenco Concert Selections, which included Juan Serrano\'s own transcription of his then current version of the piece, along with the recorded track on the included audio CD. Although it is this 1981 version that is performed by guitarists, today, it is my fondness of the 1965 Popular Music of Spain and the Old World recording that inspired me to transcribe this rendition of Serrano\'s Verde Selva, a transcription which had not before been released to the public. Although this transcription is note-for-note to the original recording, liberties were taken only in one regard in that repeats were added in some sections to give more length to this beautiful piece.

There is plenty of music sheet for classical guitar of various styles, directions and levels of difficulty. There is also enough methodical literature for all tastes. However, every year there are appearing new schools, methodical collections and exercises. That?s why the art of playing classical guitar is not standing still.

During my pedagogical activity rather often I faced the problem of searching or creating small exercises for a particular technique and solution of a particular problem. What didn?t suit me in the existing studies? First of all, the monotony of technical material (the accent only on the left hand technique of a performer, while the concentration of sound control is mostly in the right hand; a limited quantity of technical methods: arpeggios, chords, passagework technique). Secondly, it?s an amount of musical material. As a rule, the main efforts were aimed to memorize the text, which distracted from the very purpose of etudes, the work on a certain type of technical difficulties.
That is how the collection «Unusual Studies» appeared.
What is their «singularity»?
The collection is conditionally divided into several sections in the order of increasing the complexity of material, and it concludes with three «Concert Studies». They are distinguished by a more developed emotional atmosphere and rather high level of complexity and size. These studies require a certain level of preparation and can diversify a performer?s concert program. Nevertheless, they are only an addition to the basic material, which is focused primarily on the elementary and intermediate levels of training.
When it comes to the ?singularity?, focus is shifted to the right hand, with the detailed fingering of the right hand. The fingers «p» and «a» are introduced more actively, paying attention to the alignment of their sound, attack power. It is necessary to strive for full equality of all fingers of the right hand, using fingers «p» and «a» not only when playing bass and melody, but also in arpeggio, passaggio technique (in the middle of an arpeggio or passaggio).
- learning to use touches in a high contrast while playing: staccato/legato. This, in my opinion, is extremely necessary to already assimilate at the initial stage of training.
- active use of the alternation in the musical material of open and closed strings. Control over the strength of the sound of open strings, timbre ratio.
- using the high positions of the guitar?s fingerboard with open strings without excessive physical effort .
- rather small size of studies. This allows to concentrate directly on the technical difficulties, rather than on memorizing.

I hope that this collection will help you to achieve the desired result faster and more effectively, will bring not only methodical benefit, but also aesthetic pleasure.

Études for Solo Guitar
The subject of creating an educational aid for guitar students of an intermediate level that will serve also as a similar aid for theory and composition students fascinates me and motivates my compositional thought for quite a while. The objective was to create miniature complete works for the guitar, as J. S. Bach did with his fifteen inventions, in the ?manner? of an Étude that deals with specific aspects of guitar techniques and musicianship in general.


These Études are gradually graded based on their difficulty and style. They cover all the positions of the guitar and explore known and some unfamiliar techniques for the contemporary guitarist.
I used a compositional language more familiar for the level of the intermediate guitarist but without sacrificing my original compositional voice so these pieces could be used as concert works by the advanced musicians as well. My intention is to educate students in a multilevel study environment and to be able to promote the music of our time. During my teaching years I found that students become better musicians when they have been taught to adapt certain performance difficulties and compositional techniques at an earlier level of their training.
Titles:

1 with false optimism

2 with moderate sadness

3 with just the two of you

4 with a touch of impatience

5 with a touch of grandeur

6 with a counterpoint attitude

7 with a touch of shame

8 with a touch of boredom

9 going and never coming back

10 with a peaceful anger

11 without the heavy ones

12 without hope

13 without sense of humor

14 with a masculine attitude

15 with two little bears in mind

16 without hesitation

17 with shameless vibrato

18 with a touch of distress

19 without fear of failure

20 with this and that

21 with a kind motion

22 with a rondo attitude

23 with suspense

24 with everything you may have

ISBN 9781619114265. These compositions, like most of my music, are of Latin American roots, rhythms and melodies. However, the harmonies always have a jazz influence without losing that Latin flavor. Four of the five pieces in this book are dedications, except Lullaby of Love. I would say I wrote it for myself, and it is the only piece recorded by me on my CD Latin Dialog, released by Luthier Music. My hope with this music is to bring more guitarists closer to the Latin American literature for the guitar that is still much in need of recognition.- Jorge Morel.

A classical style composition made for a competition for guitar composers in Ukraine, I became one of winners of this competition with it this year. No video yet, but the audio is made with me and my guitar, hope you will like it.