SKU: MB.30846M

ISBN 9781513466026. 8.75x11.75 inches.

El McMeen has authored many guitar books for Mel Bay Publications, but this book holds a special place in his heart. This cutting-edge collection includes melodic, challenging, and exuberant band marches carefully arranged for fingerstyle guitar. The book contains arrangements of seven marches including six by John Philip Sousa , many of which are in various open tunings. These pieces are challenging and geared for intermediate-advanced and advanced guitarists. There are so many great melodies in this collection?guitarists can camp on sections of pieces that they enjoy or tackle the pieces in their entirety. The book also contains a discussion by El McMeen on his selection and arrangement process. Includes access to online audio.

SKU: DZ.DZ-4311

ISBN 9782898522284.

Louise Farrenc was a profoundly influential French composer, performer, professor, and author. Though she would ultimately become quite a sought-after performer, her potential as a composer was recognized quite early on. Women were not permitted to enroll in conventional composition classes at the Conservatoire de Paris at the time, but, she did receive private lessons from Anton Reicha, the professor of composition there. Years later she would receive a permanent appointment as Professor of Piano at the same institution, a position she held for thirty years. She was the only woman during the 19th century to bear that title.
Her piano etudes possess pedagogical value as well as great beauty and character. These works lend themselves quite well to the guitar duo setting. While I have rendered all of Farrenc’s melodies quite faithfully, I have taken liberties with the accompaniments in order to make them more idiomatic to the guitar. Likewise, many of the effects of which the guitar is capable have been brought to bear in ways that deviate from the original intent of the etude. Alternatively, the challenges that some of these etudes were meant to address for the piano student are amplified by this adaptation. For example, etude 5 is intended to enable the piano student to improve the coordination between their left and right hands. It certainly presents a challenge in that regard to the guitar duo!
These selections are entirely suitable for guitarists with limited experience, though they could, of course, be beautifully realized by players with a great deal more experience as well.

Louise Farrenc était une compositrice, interprète, professeur et auteure française profondément influente. Même si elle deviendra finalement une interprète très recherchée, son potentiel en tant que compositrice est reconnu très tôt. Les femmes n'étaient pas autorisées à s'inscrire aux cours de composition conventionnels au Conservatoire de Paris à l'époque, mais elle recevait des cours particuliers d'Anton Reicha, le professeur de composition du Conservatoire de Paris. Des années plus tard, elle recevra un poste permanent de professeur de piano dans la même institution, poste qu'elle occupera pendant trente ans. Elle était la seule femme au XIXe siècle à porter ce titre.
Ses études pour piano possèdent une valeur pédagogique ainsi qu'une grande beauté et un grand caractère. Ces œuvres se prêtent assez bien au montage en duo de guitares. Même si j’ai rendu assez fidèlement toutes les mélodies de Farrenc, j’ai pris des libertés avec les accompagnements afin de les rendre plus idiomatiques à la guitare. De même, de nombreux effets dont la guitare est capable ont été mis en œuvre d’une manière qui s’écarte de l’intention originale de l’étude. Alternativement, les défis que certaines de ces études étaient censées relever pour l'étudiant en piano sont amplifiés par cette adaptation. Par exemple, l'étude 5 est destinée à permettre à l'élève de piano d'améliorer la coordination entre ses mains gauche et droite. Cela représente certainement un défi à cet égard pour le duo de guitares !
Ces sélections conviennent parfaitement aux guitaristes ayant une expérience limitée, même si elles pourraient bien sûr également être magnifiquement réalisées par des musiciens beaucoup plus expérimentés.

SKU: MB.94533M

ISBN 9780786690992. 8.75 x 11.75 inches.

The author, three-time national flatpicking guitar champion, has compiled this rousing collection of dazzling flatpicking guitar solos. A companion audio featuring Steves foot-tapping rendition of each arrangement is included. The book is in notation and tablature. All the songs in the book are performed on the audio. On the video, Steve plays both slow and fast versions of each solo. Steves performance on the up-tempo versions of the challenging solos is absolutely astonishing. Includes access to audio and video online.

SKU: HL.14026484

English.

A witty and innovative version of the well-known and much-loved pantomime story. Puss In Boots helps the hero, Edwin, to win the hand of the fair princess, by scaring away the nastiest ogre ever, who is allergic to cats! There are lead roles to challenge more able pupils and a large cast of non-speaking roles for younger pupils. The play is in rhyme. Duration: 50 mins. If you need to license a school/youth theatre performance of this product, please use the online application form.

SKU: HL.14048147

English.

Between 1717 and 1723 Johann Sebastian Bach composed Six Suites for Violoncello (BWV 1007 - BWV 1012). Of these, the first three have been transcribed for Guitar in this coursebook, which in itself is a considerable amount of work. For guitarists these compositions are a real challenge - a challenge, however, that brings with it a lot of benefits.

SKU: DY.DO-1538

ISBN 9782897963187.

When guitarist John Olson and soprano Gioia De Cari commissioned me to write a piece for them, I envi- sioned writing something theatrical that might especially suit Gioia, who is both a singer and an actress. Eventually, I thought of Mark Twain. The great American writer and humorist of substance wrote a short, little-known book called The Diary of Adam and Eve, which is, of course, about the first days of human life on this earth, in Twain’s witty, but touching take on the Bible story. Adam and Eve each write diary entries. I chose several passages from Eve’s diary that convey the sense of constant wonder that she felt because absolutely everything in her world was new.

Setting prose, rather than poetry, is a challenge for a composer because it has neither the innate rhythm nor the lyricism of poetry. On some intuitive level, this challenge led me to a process that allowed the music to evolve mostly from the guitar part. Whereas normally the vocal melody might emerge first, motivated by the text and with the accompaniment then added for support, here the guitar part was the prime mover. An example of this is the last song, which is a passacaglia played by the guitar, providing the ground over which the vocal line can soar. Eve’s Diary was composed in 2015.

Lorsque le guitariste John Olson et la soprano Gioia De Cari m'ont commandé une pièce pour eux, j'ai imaginé écrire quelque chose de théâtral qui pourrait particulièrement convenir à Gioia, qui est à la fois chanteuse et actrice. Finalement, j'ai pensé à Mark Twain. Le grand écrivain et humoriste américain a écrit un petit livre peu connu intitulé Le Journal d'Adam et Ève, qui raconte les premiers jours de la vie humaine sur terre selon l'interprétation spirituelle et espiègle de Twain de l'histoire biblique. Adam et Ève tiennent chacun un journal. J'ai choisi plusieurs passages du journal d'Ève qui expriment ce sentiment d'émerveillement constant qu'elle ressentait, car absolument tout dans son monde était nouveau.

Mettre en musique de la prose, plutôt que de la poésie, est un défi pour un compositeur car elle n'a ni le rythme inné ni le lyrisme de la poésie. Intuitivement, ce défi m'a conduit à un processus qui a permis à la musique d'évoluer principalement à partir de la partie de guitare. Alors que normalement la mélodie vocale pourrait émerger en premier, motivée par le texte et avec l'accompagnement ajouté ensuite pour le soutien, ici la partie de guitare était le moteur principal. Un exemple en est la dernière chanson, qui est une passacaille jouée à la guitare, fournissant le fond sur lequel la ligne vocale peut s'élever. Le Journal d'Ève a été composé en 2015.