The young man (wearing the shorts and running shoes) sitting 2 seats from John Williams was Paul Versluis. Paul died in 2004, 16 years ago as I write this. I just want the world to know that Paul Versluis was a magnificent guitarist, a wonderful musician, a superbly intelligent gentleman, and my dear friend. There is almost no memory left in the world of this wonderful young man, the decades he devoted to the Classical Guitar, and I just wanted to write this epitaph here for him here. I miss you Paul, and I will never forget the story you told me about Bach walking miles to listen to Weiss, while you taught me the correct fingering on that Weiss piece. Rest in peace brother, I will always remember you.
Lovely comments - just noticed this video - what a journey - I worked for years alongside Paul with James Lloyd at the Brisbane School of Guitar. Was a great player and a lovely guy and gentleman as you say. Peace PV
@@hassammahmoodq Segovia pales in comparison to JW as a virtuoso! He did alot to dignify the instrument but as a virtuoso with a wide range of musical styles like JW never, not even Bream!
Very Good interpretation of this piece of John Dowland. Playing simply and slightly as it's a difficult composition. The man Who play as alraidy understand the spirit of this "song" and the Master Know it: this is not a technical piece but a composition that must be played with the Heart. That can't be explaining by some technicals stufs.
Good to watch this. I kmow from my teacher that John, nice guy though he is, doesn’t enjoy teaching very much (unlike David Russell or Pepe Romero) so good they got him to do this.
(continued) "Old pitch" is a thorny subject where it's hard to posit any hard and fast rules. Our main sources are old organs and other wind instruments, whose pitch can differ from modern A440 by than a whole tone below (French organ pitch) to almost a minor third above (German "Chorton"). In the early 17th century, Dowland's contemporary (and probably colleague) Michael Praetorius complained that pitch was getting too high and causing all sorts of problems for singers and string players.
I've played this with and without the capo at the 3rd fret. The piece lies more comfortably under the left hand with the capo, but at the sacrifice of the guitar's natural resonance. The box isn't pitched to the key of G. In the end you're better off, I think, to play it in E. However, I almost always use the lute tuning (3rd string F#) for lute and vihuela music. It makes the inner voices much easier to play and allows for a dominant B chord that is more resonant and better in tune.
I guess this is always something I have admired in JW. Never a dictatorial type of teaching ‘play it like me’ just guidance on technical facilitation if it crops up. Segovia was an amazing guitarist but appeared to me it was ‘his way or nothing’
Fair enough--using the capo does re-balance the instrument because, as I said before, the box is optimized for the normal open strings. Moving up a major second or minor third is going to kill some of that resonance, which will have a greater effect in the bass. If you're comparing the bass projection of the guitar to that of the Renaissance lute, then your observation holds up. Baroque lutes, with their larger bodies and diapason basses are a whole other matter.
As I said, the only reason to put the capo at the 3rd fret when playing this or any other lute piece on the guitar is to make the left hand easier--or at any event, more like the spacing on the lute, for whatever that's worth. Better yet is to play it on the lute, which is what I do now. As for lute pitch, the sources, when they say anything at all, say to tune the first string as high as it will go without breaking. String lengths and thicknesses on surviving lutes suggest a modern G or A.
Try the capo on 2nd fret, or 1st or without if your instrument, like this player's, is a little on the bright side. The use of the capo is really nothing to do with restoring historical pitch, rather it puts the sound more in a similar relative range. Even if you did want to match renaissance pitch, the average in those days was probably at least a semitone lower.
(continued!) range and tropical hardwoods to project the bass. Traditionally built guitars benefit from a capo by avoiding the excess density of complex textures in the bass, lattice type or other more treble-oriented guitars sometimes benefit less. And yes playing Dowland on the lute is always more 'right', but for those of us who don't, getting a capo to work well and coping with whatever left-hand demands remain has to be the best option.
augh agreed so much usually when tyou see youtube comments of people talkin about performances people dont know half a thing, but you know at the very 3/4 of a thing, nay, 5/6 a thing
+Jonathan Waugh The Segovia class is basically: "Play it like I say! Don't you ever dare change the fingering! Acknowledge me! Say I'm the Messiah of the guitar! Never play Barrios or Giuliani or Carcassi! Confess you owe everything to me! Say Flamenco sucks! Don't think, just repeat!"
+kalbininkas I actually went to school with some one that Segovia thrown out of his Master class for trying to share an improved fingering... sor study # 5 comes to mind... hehehehee
There is an excellent interview by Benjamin Verdery of Paul O'Dette where he discusses playing lute music on the guitar. See the interview on RU-vid at tQ5vltWA0IY. The discussion on this point is about 09:20 in the interview. All in all, it is a matter of personal preference.
All your historical points are good but I'm sorry I really cannot agree that the *only* reason to use a capo is for physical ease - though it does that too! If it didn't make it sound right on the modern guitar, less over-bassy, it would not really be acceptable. The physical difference between capo on 3 or 2 is extremely slight, yet the difference in tone can be considerable. The lute had a small range and a lightly built body that had little bass projection. The modern guitar has a large-
Tone color bro. There's so many good passages, but you know, master class and he was probably nervous. I mean, he's nailed the passages to a T, but vibrato was missing in the beginning passage and maybe this is a good way to bring out the structure; however, it's can be such an expressive piece of music and certainly not baroque. Also, there wasn't much in the way of dynamics, but I think most people can figure out what works for the piano and forte. Measure #35-40 (if you're using 2/2)... There's so much potential, but, in this performance, no tone color and no rubato. It's like angels coming down from heaven. Just use some dulce and ponticello alternately for the high and low passages respectively. #51-63 he did this almost perfectly. #64-73 - There's a lot of potential here for some spare rubato on ascending between #67-68, then again at #70. Then run it all the way down to the cadence as you like. As far as the Renaissance cadences go, some people like to use the cross string trills or they like to use the p-i-p-m same string trills. It's more period specific to use the same string, but also more difficult. I think either sounds good! Just make it in rhythm.
I would have been very interested in JW's view of the capo on 3rd fret and F# tuning as we didn't get that from the video. I seem to remember JW playing it in standard form and even though i liked Russells playing i felt that it lacked depth of bass in places that standard tuning gives. I play this piece in standard tuning and I don't think the capo and F# tuning would make it any easier??? I may be wrong
baroque music, no vibrato is proper, although it being baroque there should have been contrasting dynamics when each of the musical idea were repeated...
Interesting class...(good footage) although.. I've never seen John Williams use a capo himself after all is said and done. Maybe John Denver should've given this class. Good solo btw!
lmfao not 1 single chord from the "Chord" book was played at all here. To kids picking up the Guitar decide early Classical or rock. Once you start learning chords only you will never be able to play these arrangements because they use NOTE patterns not chords. It took me nearly 3 years to get the chords nonsense out of my head. Played so many years using only chords that going back to the Classical guitar was very difficult.
