Hope you enjoy the music and video.

Hope you enjoy listening!

WHAT do YOU FEEL and think of while listening to the track? Leave your answer in the comments below – I’m curios to know!

I started writing the piece a couple of weeks ago and initially it was just an improvisation, an exercise in melody development. But then it started growing under my fingers.

Tomorrow will shot a video for it and after small mixing will publish it.

Often, when I teach my students to compose their own music, I suggest them first to write something with an attitude of exercise. Because that’s how you learn to wrote tiny compositions first, express little by little your musical ideas (or learn to create musical ideas!). Before having in your head different complicated forms and having pressure that “you must write an entire complete piece or song” you just do “an exercise”, 4 bars, 8 bars or 16 bars long. In that case you are more relaxed and your mind is more creative and free from different restrictions! After you have written tens and tens of exercises like that, it will be more easy for you to approach various and more complex forms.

Stay tuned!

As soon as pieces will flow under fingers I will record and shoot teasers for you. So stay tuned!

1 tune – 3 difficulty levels. From Zero to Hero

If the audience likes a piece – then it is success.

To my students I say that the Dominant can also be mysterious, modest, shy, confident, solemn etc. As well as the Tonic may have different colors and characters, depending on which story you want to tell with a classical (or any other, that has strong chords relations) piece of music.

Figure out the necessary character and make your playing-story-telling interesting!

Communicating with recognized musicians during many years, I finally came to a conclusion. In fact, one could know one certain style very well and then a bit of other known styles.

My first musical education was strict: if you studied classical guitar, then it should be only that. In case, if someone saw you playing rock or blues, you immediately fell in their eyes and earning back your “classical” reputation was almost impossible. But that was many years ago…

Nowadays, I regularly practice jazz, bossa-nova and blues standards; I improvise and compose (in fact, both are the same thing!). All that I also teach to my students, as good as I can and share information.

What I like about jazz, is that it gives an opportunity for your imagination to fly. At the same time, you have also the needed support (what is so crucial in the beginning!) – you have a from and boundaries. For example, usually a jazz standard, let’s say if there are two guitarists, is played as next: one plays the theme and at the same time second gives an accompaniment (chords), then the first one starts improvising, while second still plays the same chords s/he played for the theme. Then the roles change: first player plays the chords and the second – improvises. Then the piece can be finished with the theme.

Usually, when you have played dozen of standards like that, improvised, you might feel a temptation to create your own music and that’s how you become a composer!
Composing helps you to get deeper into understanding what does the composer feel and what does it cost – to create a good piece. By improvising you can get to know better your instrument and become close friends with it. When you create an instant piece, improvise, there is nothing between you two. You jump into adventure and see where it brings you. Read more about improvisation online and improve it gradually and regularly.

(I have a dream to go onstage and play an improvised piece – one that I will compose right on that moment, not prepared in advance.)

To conclude, I would like to point out, that any style of music is limited with instruments, rhythms and pitches. Some people make out of those things “pop” music, others – “rock”, thirds – “classical” etc. If it is well done – it’s good! I think, that it is important to be a specialist in one certain style, because then you can develop that style and be a worthy representative and teach it to other. Being a specialist helps to preserve traditions, cherish them and give further to the next generation. There is not enough time to learn everything, but there is always time for the most important…

Study different music and styles on your instrument. Pick what you like the most and become really good in it. Good luck!

Recently I gave a lecture, during which I spoke to teachers and students also about that issue and what could be improved in that area.

Often teacher right from the start gives a student freedom to compose pieces and improvise . But this freedom is a bad thing at the beginning, since it doesn’t provide student with necessary support that is needed in the beginning. S/He is let free to do whatever s/he and often doesn’t know what to do. As a result, s/he dumps a lot of stuff together in a heap. Sometimes, such a piece can appear nice, but often it is vague and maybe you wouldn’t like to hear it for a second time, because often there is no clear beginning, no sense of development, no clear ending. And the following pieces that student makes also have lack of sense of direction. Student gets lost in that freedom. Thus, I explain to my students the importance of a form and shape of a piece. I give them some limitations, rules and “tools”. They need few moments to memorize those rules and after that they have a lot of fun playing within them and create interesting pieces, that have and artistic value. Students learn basic principles of composition while having fun.

In couple of years I plan to finish the detailed program of “Composer-Performer” for the beginners of all ages and visit several countries to introduce it to people.