Matt Denman, the accomplished guitar educator from Oklahoma, was in town this week. He had done some substitute teaching for Jason Vieaux at CIM while Jason was traveling, and found time while in Ohio to join us in Oberlin for a short master class. Matt was the long-time Director of Education for the GFA, is the Director of the Celedonio Romero Guitar Institute and is guitar professor at Oklahoma City University. It was a pleasure having him visit and interact with the students.

We only had a an hour to work with before Matt had to catch his flight back, so we could accommodate only two students. We began with Aleksandr Lapshin. Aleks played the remarkable Troika Variations by Orekhov. After his performance, Matt offered suggestions relating to right hand finger preparation for greater confidence and precision in articulation, and they talked about slow practice some. Matt referenced his lessons with Pepe Romero.

Next up was Grigor Ylli, with a performance of the first movement of Roberto Sierra’s Sonata. (Sorry, no photo). Grigor had just learned the piece since the holidays, and it was in remarkable shape, demonstrating a high level of control. Matt, happily, was familiar with the piece, and offered suggestions relating to form and structure, and helped Grigor with his strummed chords. Then, very helpfully, he introduced us to a U of Texas dissertation, available on the web, that dedicates an entire chapter to analyzing the Sonata. This will provide Grigor with a few nights of interesting reading!

Thank you Matt, for your thoughtful advice to the students, and for your hard work on behalf of guitar education! It was delightful to have you join us in Oberlin!