The
2nd International 10-String Guitar Festival |
It was 3am Wednesday
morning,
July 5th, and I was bone tired. I had finally completed my
latest 10-string guitar, and was stringing it up for the first time.
Talk about cutting
things close. I had to be at the airport in seven
hours, to catch a flight bound for New Haven, CT, and leaving the new
10-string behind was not an option. It was an important guitar, the
first Janet Marlow Entry Model, and I would be presenting it to her at
the Festival. I still had to pack the guitar and
case in a box that would hopefully survive the gauntlet of airport
baggage handlers, née shotput throwers, and automated baggage
handling equipment that could shred a perfectly good piece of luggage
in an eyeblink. I tried not to think about it as I brought the strings
up to pitch, checking for action height and buzzes. Thankfully, all I
needed to do was shave down the bottom of the nut a touch, and it was
good to go. I slacked the strings, tucked the guitar into its case, and
packed it with plenty of foam peanuts into a stout box. It was 4am by
then, and I debated about whether or not I should even try to get some
sleep, but I was fading fast. So I set my alarm for 7am, hoping I’d
hear it when it went off.
Fortunately, I did. The flight from Houston to Philadelphia was a long one. We were delayed on the ground almost an hour before takeoff, and circled Philly in a holding pattern for another half hour or so. Arrived at Philadelphia International about an hour and a half late, only to find that the connecting flight to New Haven had been cancelled. They had scheduled another one in an hour, so at least I wasn’t stranded. The new plane finally arrived, but the flight crew was due to be rotated, and as it turned out, the new crew was delayed because of the weather. It had been a week to remember regarding the weather and the North East had borne the brunt of it. As we waited for the crew to arrive, I kept a watchful eye out the window for the baggage “trains,” looking for a large cardboard box with FRAGILE stickers pasted all over it. Slowly, a trickle of luggage began piling up in front of the plane as baggage handlers drove by and dropped off items slated for the New Haven flight. But no box. Then one of the handlers drove a train over to an area about a hundred yards away from my flight, parked it, got out and walked away. On the very rear of the last cart in the train was the box with my guitar in it. Finally the crew arrived and we began boarding. The luggage that had been piled in front of the airplane had been stowed in the cargo area, but my box was still sitting on the luggage train. I walked up to one of the attendants inside the terminal and told her that my luggage wasn’t on the plane yet, and I could still see it sitting out there. She told me, quite confidently, that “the ramp” would make sure that all the luggage was aboard and not to worry about it.Yeah, right. I worried about it. |
 World-renowned 10-string performer, recording artist and composer, Janet Marlow “showing off ” her new Janet Marlow Entry Model 10-string classical guitar, presented to her by Michael McBroom |
Fortunately, this airplane was a De Havilland Dash-8, a small, 36-seat turboprop. So small that it doesn’t fit up to those extendable entrance/exit ramps that we’ve all become so used to. You have to walk out on the tarmac up to the plane and board it via a ladder — just like they used to do in the old days and heads of state still do to this day. I say this was fortunate because a baggage handler was standing next to the plane, ready to take carry-on baggage that would not fit in the overheads or beneath the seats, so he could stow it in the cargo area.
I walked up to this guy, and pointed across the tarmac to the train with my guitar still sitting on it.
“You see that big cardboard
box over there with all the FRAGILE stickers all over it?” I said.
“That’s part of my luggage.”
The handler asked if I was
sure, because a lot of boxes look alike, and I replied I was absolutely
sure. He then admitted that they didn’t know who that luggage belonged
to. Probably because of the cancelled flight, I suspect. To give credit
where it is due, he walked over to the abandoned luggage train to
check. Satisfied, I boarded the plane. A few minutes later, sardined
into my seat, I heard the sounds of a lot more luggage being stowed,
not just mine. I reckon I saved the airline a lot of grief by not
listening to that gate attendant. The guitar and I made it into New
Haven, and later to my hotel without further incident. And I was happy
to find, upon unpacking the guitar, that it had made the journey
without mishap.
 |
Janet Marlow, the
Festival
director,
opened the Festival with an introduction, in which she spoke about the
importance of the 10-string guitar to the music community and how, as
10-string players we wore several hats. By necessity, in addition to
being a musician who plays the 10-string, an accomplished 10-string
player is an historian, an arranger, a composer, and an improviser.
Many classical players who have received “traditional” training have
had scant exposure to the latter two areas, but they are, to my way of
thinking, perhaps the most important when considering the advancement
of the instrument. After all, what is musical composition but
improvisation frozen in time? And, given the small body of work written
for this particular instrument, the emphasis on composition becomes an
important one. Janet began her
discussion
with nail
shapes. She prefers shaping her nails the way Narcisso Yepes shaped
his,
which to perhaps overly
simplify things, involves giving the nail edges
more of a rectangular shape instead of the more traditional rounded
shape. By doing so,
greater contact between the fleshy tip of the finger and the string is
maintained without sacrificing the power and clarity of the nail,
whether using rest stroke or free stroke, and a fuller sound is the
result. There is also less of an occurrence of the click one often
hears when a string is plucked using the rounded shape. To make this
shape work to its optimum, it must be tailored to each nail, which is
due to the arc a finger describes as it approaches a string. With most
players, only the middle finger strikes a string at a more-or-less
perpendicular angle. All the others approach the string at a more
oblique angle. Thus, only the middle finger’s nail receives a
straight-across rectangular shape. The index finger’s shape is a bit
more rounded on the edges. The ring finger’s nail is shaped at a slight
slant toward the guitar bridge — you can see why this is when you look
down at your “a” finger as it plucks a string. And finally, the
thumbnail is beveled in the opposite direction to eliminate clicks and
to increase the contact of the fleshy part of the side of the thumb
with the string. |
| Janet also discussed right
hand positioning and the importance of its role in controlling
dynamics, timbre, and unwanted string vibrations, the latter being a
very real concern for 10-string players. She explained that when
playing a piece, simply “playing what you feel” isn’t enough. One must
have a knowledge of the historical perspective, the musical style of
the period, as well as the composer’s preferences, when interpreting a
piece of music on the 10-string. Since much of this involves dynamics
and timbre, her inclusion of this topic was appropriate within the
context of right hand technique. Another closely related topic was voicing with the right hand. This is not specific to the 10-string, but is just good musicianship, and she emphasized its importance. One should practice playing through a series of four note chords, and be able to bring out each voice in turn, such that it is obvious where the melody is. Regarding left hand
technique,
she advocates keeping the same or similar arc to the fingers when
transitioning from upper to progressively lower strings, and that one
can move ones left arm in
or out to maintain this.
This is straight
from Narcisso Yepes’ playing philosophy. Janet stressed the importance that both the right and left
hand of the ten-string
guitarist should be skilled at playing in a
full 360 degrees of movement for making decisions regarding volume,
sound and timbres according to an intellectual analysis of the music
and the composer's intentions. Janet's talk also included useful techniques for
improving ones speed when playing scale passages. She used a
"bouncing ball" analogy to show how, the higher a ball bounces, the
more time there is between bounces, and the closer the ball gets to the
ground, the less time between bounces. This emphasizes in a very
clear way the importance in keeping ones fingers for both the left and
right hand close to the strings. To improve speed, she advocates
working on passages by starting with the first three notes, then adding
one note at a time, but adding notes to the passage only after the mind
and ear is satisfied with the precision and velocity of the scale
segment. |
 Festival attendees (clockwise from upper right): David Starbuck, Barbara Starbuck, Nick Starbuck, Steve Bastien, Michael McBroom, Scott Rifkin, Pascal Boëls, Martín Boëls, Janet Marlow, and Steve Rekas (taking photo). Not shown, but in attendance, were Steve Adelson, Michéle Ramo, David Darling, and Dennis Cinelli. |
| Pascal Boëls, from
Paris, France is a specialist on the interpretation of Renaissance and
Baroque music, and its application to the 10-string guitar. I
found his insights on interpreting and performing trills and other
ornaments to be especially valuable. He decried the use of trills
played with metronomic precision, and emphasized the importance of
accelerating a trill as a way of building up a level of tension to its
sudden conclusion. Pascal indicated some of the works of J.S. Bach
which had been transcribed for more than one instrument, and pointed to
the manner in which string players will play trills and other ornaments
in a different fashion than the way the same ornaments are interpreted
for keyboard. For the non-trill ornaments, essentially he emphasized
the double-dotted rhythms that are so characteristic of Baroque
interpretations. |
 |
 Dennis Cinelli playing his 1843 Panormo  Dennis Cinelli with his circa 1830 Stauffer |
Friday’s seminars began with a
talk by Dennis Cinelli, the
guitar professor at Montclair
State University, in Montclair, New Jersey, and a renowned
performer of period music.
Dennis is an authority on the
guitars and lutes of the Renaissance,
Baroque, and Romantic eras. He brought three instruments to the
festival: an 1843 Panormo, a circa 1830 Stauffer, and a copy of a circa
1856 Scherzer 10-string, built
by the Russian luthier,
Alexandre Golubostskij. His talk included a comprehensive
overview, complete with many photos, of the evolution of the guitar
from its earliest beginnings to its present configuration. His presentations emphasized the widespread use and popularity of multi-stringed guitars during the late 18th century, throughout the 19th century, and into the 20th century. Dennis contends that, in order to play many of the pieces written by Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841), the inventor of the decacorde, and Napoleon Coste (1810-1883), a 10-string is necessary to give them a faithful rendition. After his presentation, Dennis played all three instruments. Despite their small size relative to a modern classical and shorter scales (ranging from 630mm to 640mm), the guitars had surprisingly good volume, and a rich, warm sound. |
|
 Grammy Award nominee David Darling |
Friday’s
afternoon session
began with an improvisational workshop led by Grammy Award nominee and
world-renowned cellist, David
Darling. David’s workshop
was not just improvisational, it was inspirational. A man of remarkable
talent and compassion, he brings every bit of it to the fore when he
engages his workshop participants in an area that too many people,
especially classically trained musicians, find intimidating. For those
of us who were game enough, each of us was invited to do a bit of
improvisation. I decided not to let the opportunity pass me by and gave
it a shot, and I’m glad I did. Then he broke the group down into
smaller groups of four, with himself as one of the participants, and
then directed each into
exploring their instruments in a very relaxed
and unintimidating fashion, and before long everybody was “doing their
thing.” Finally, he had the entire group going, once again introducing
simple elements and building upon them until we were all having a good
time. And that seems to be
at the core of
David’s philosophy toward
improvisation. Having a good time. Enjoying ones instrument. Having the
belief and conviction that the music is already out there, and all a
player has to do is reach out, even if just a little at first, and
touch it. |
| Steve Adelson gave us
a
demonstration of the remarkable capabilities of the Chapman Stick.
The model he
prefers is called the Grand Stick, which
has 12 strings in 12 courses, tuned B E A D G C C# F# B E A D, with the
lowest string being the C in the center. The strings on either side of
the low C ascend in 5ths outward on the low strings (or the
bass side
of the fingerboard), and descend in 5ths inward on the high strings (or
the treble side of the fingerboard). The advantage to this tuning,
Steve explains, is the symmetry that is maintained. Chord shapes are
the
same above and below the low C, and across all strings, so ones
repertory of chords is drastically reduced compared to what guitarists
have to familiarize themselves with. Dots are located on the
fingerboard every five frets, so it is an easy matter to relocate a
chord from one position to another. All one has to do is move up (or
down) five frets, then move the position up (or down) a string, and
voila! The same chord, with the same fingering can be played in the new
location. Steve runs his Stick through two amplifiers, one for the
bass side and one for the “guitar” side. His Stick incorporates an RMC
pickup module for the upper six strings, which allows him to run it
through a Roland VG-88
effects unit or Roland GR-33 guitar synthesizer. Steven is a very talented player, demonstrating the capabilities of the Stick by playing complex bass lines while chording and soloing over them. A true professional, he made it look as easy as falling off a log. |
 |
Saturday’s sessions began with a talk on the skills of transcribing the music of Weiss, Bach, and piano scores to the 10-string. This was a panel discussion, in which certain basics were emphasized, especially paying careful attention to bass lines, whether there in actuality or intent.
 Inside the Janet Marlow Entry Model, showing the McBroom radial bracing system |
Next, yours truly
gave a talk
on guitar construction, with a particular focus on building 10-string
guitars and the different construction methods that go into their
fabrication. I had the benefit of using the projection equipment to
show photos of my work on two 10-strings at various stages of
completion, both of which were at the festival. My lecture included my
general philosophy regarding 10-string construction, as well as several
specific steps I take in the building process of 10-strings that I have
learned from both experimentation and trial and error There was quite a
bit of discussion regarding various aspects of the building process
specific to 10-strings. Even though only one of the attendees of the
festival this year, David Starbuck, has built guitars, I believe it is
beneficial even for a player who has no intention of building guitars
to understand some of the process. It helps to make a better informed
consumer, as it were, when or if they are shopping for guitars in the
future, especially 10-strings. |
 Michéle with his DiCarlo 8-string |
Later a talk and demonstration
was given by Michéle Ramo
(pronounced Me-KAY-lay). His
lovely wife, Heidi Hepler-Ramo, also attended.
She is an excellent
singer, with an irrepressible sense of humor that kept smiles on all
our faces. Michéle, originally from Sicily, and now living in Queens, New York, studied and played classical violin for many years, and taught himself how to play guitar. His guitar style is what we often call “crossover” now, employing elements of classical, jazz, and a variety of ethnic melodic and rhythmic structures. He has developed an approach to his music that is not unlike that of Steve Adelson’s, in terms of the resulting sound, but the method is entirely different. Working together with New York-based luthier Rich DiCarlo, Michéle developed a unique 8-string guitar. The upper six are essentially a standard six-string classical, but the lower two are tuned to D and A. The 8th string, tuned to D, is fully two octaves below the open 4th string, and the 7th string, tuned to A, is an octave below the open 5th string. The fingerboard below these two strings is fretless, and the result is a sound that very closely resembles that of an upright bass. Also like Steve, Michéle plays his guitar through two amplifiers. His guitar uses RMC piezo saddle transducers, with separate modules for the lo  wer six and the two basses. Michéle played a
few excerpts
from his repertory of jazz tunes, most of which were old standards. His
musicianship is simply superb, and it was really quite amazing to hear
jazz chords and melody played on a classical with the deep sound of a
stand-up bass in the background — all while watching it being performed
by one person. After Michéle's presentation, somebody
suggested a jam session. I think it was Dennis. Regardless,
it was a unique pleasure to watch Blue Bossa being played on a couple
of 10-strings and an 8-string by three very talented players. |
| Joe
Carter is the
resident guitar instructor at Sacred Heart University. Although he
plays (only) a six-string classical, nobody at the seminar minded
because his talk was valuable for anyone interested in learning more
about latin rhythms, especially those from Brazil. As a sometimes
player of jazz and latin music, I was very interested, and so was
everyone else, by all appearances. Joe began his talk by
giving a
brief overview of the history of the bossa rhythm and its originators —
João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Prior to the advent of
the bossa, typical Brazilian music was marked by a perhaps overabundance of percussion and, of
necessity, shouted lyrics. Gilberto
had the inspiration to bring down the dynamic level and distill the
rhythms to their simple essences, such that the music was played softly
and the lyrics were almost whispered. Think “Girl from Impanema.” Just
by doing this, Gilberto and Jobim revolutionized the world of latin
music. Using a Power Point
presentation, Joe displayed the basics of bossa, samba, and
baião rhythms and variations on each. One observation he
related, based on his own personal experiences when playing in Brazil,
was the importance of getting away from 4/4 and developing a 2/4 feel
for the music. He showed how 4/4 emphasis made the music sound more
like a march, and how,
just by emphasizing a 2/4 feel,
the music began
to glide. Joe’s talk also included
basics on jazz chord substitutions, which was appropriate since most
Brazilian music follows similar chord theory as used in American jazz.
Both the rhythmic and harmonic elements of Joe’s talk were essential
information for really any guitarist who is interested in composition,
especially if one wishes to compose in a latin style. |
 |
Following are the programs for
the concerts that were given on Friday and Saturday nights with a few
photos of the perfomers:
The International Ten-String Guitar Festival Concert
July 7, 2006
Presents
“400 Years of Guitar
into the Future”
Sponsored by Janet
Marlow Music LLC, The Edgerton Center for The Performing Arts at Sacred
Heart University
 |
John Dowland "My
lord Willoughby's
welcome home"
"The most sacred Queen Elizabeth, her Gaillard" "Lachrimae Pavan" "Forlone Hope Fancy" "A Fancy"
|
 |
Dennis Cinelli Romantic 10-String Guitar 19th c. Mazurka - Polonaise Op. 3 J.K. Mertz Trois Nocturnes Op.
4 J.
K. Mertz 10 string guitar by Alexandre Golubotskij (Moscow, 1990) after J. G.
Scherzer
(Vienna, 1856) from the Patrick O'Brien instrument collection.
Mr. Cinelli's performance is made possible by the generous support of E. & O.
Mari, Inc.
/ LaBella Strings |
Artists CD’s
available in the Lobby during this time and after the concert
 |
Steve Adelson 12-String Grand Chapman Stick This performance entails varied improvised and original compositions on his 12 string Grand Chapman Stick. The Stick is a multi-stringed fret board with a unique inverted tuning that primarily employs a piano-like tapping technique by the player. He will demonstrate the accompanying two handed tapping style which allows him to play melodies, improvs, harmonies, chords and rhythms all simultaneously in real time. Steve will also offer a brief description of the Chapman Stick's revolutionary tuning scheme and its benefits for sonic creativity. |
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Preludio, Vals 1, Vals, 2 Choro Comp. Carmen Guzman (Argentina) Sweet Sensations comp. Janet Marlow |
 |
Janet Marlow and
Pascal BOËLS Duo |
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La Romanza Anon. arr. Janet Marlow Over The Rainbow arr. Janet Marlow |
The International Ten-String Guitar Festival Concert
July 8, 2006
Presents
“400 Years of Guitar
into the Future”
Sponsored by Janet
Marlow Music LLC, The Edgerton Center for The Performing Arts at Sacred
Heart University
|
Dennis Cinelli Romantic 10-String Guitar 19th c. Etudes
de Genre Op. 38
N. Coste
No. 12 Prélude No. 2 Scherzando No. 22 Tarantelle Kindermärchen
Op.
13 no. 8 J. K. Mertz 10
string guitar by
Alexandre Golubotskij (Moscow, 1990)
after J. G. Scherzer (Vienna, 1856) from the Patrick O'Brien instrument collection. Mr. Cinelli's
performance
is made possible by the generous support of |
 |
|
J.S.BACH
(1685-1750) |
 |
Intermission
Artists CD’s
available in the Lobby during this time and after the concert
|
MICHÉLE RAMO (Italy) 8-String Jazz Guitar MICHÉLE RAMO is performing on an 8 string nylon finger style
jazz .A classical-jazz crossover artist in the truest sense of the
word, Ramo has a unique and sought-after ability for blending his
classical and jazz worlds into his writing, teaching and performance.
His 8-string guitar was created by
Luthier, Rich DiCarlo and Michele Ramo. |
 |
|
Three
American Landscapes comp. Janet Marlow
|
|
|
Janet Marlow 10-string & Alan Brennan, violin Norwegian Wood Recuerdos de la
Alhambra
arr. J. Marlow |
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I can speak only for myself, but I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s festival and getting to meet the talented players who attended the event. I’m already looking forward to the next one, and I hope to see more players, whether they play a 10-string or are simply interested in multi-stringed guitars and music, at the next event.
I would also like to add a special "thank you" to Janet Marlow and Steven Rekas for providing several of the photos shown in this article.
Houston, Texas
July 12, 2006
