Troubadour Unveils the Mysteries of Classical Guitar 32 MAY/JUNE 2015 Classical guitar, with its full sound a party and then ran into him at the post Beginnings office. There was a long line. What do you and intricate technique is com- say to a composer standing in line for 20 pletely removed from other guitar & New Works minutes? ‘Will you write me a piece?’ He replied, ‘That’s an interesting idea, call Back when Isbin first began lessons as a styles. “The instrument I play has me.’” And she did, for the next eight years, nine-year-old, she had no idea what she until he finally agreed. nylon treble strings and metal was getting into. Like many children, her wound bass [strings], so there are parents had to coax her to practice. She didn’t dream of one day playing guitar Musical Diversity no steel strings in the top voices. on stage, rather she wanted to be a rocket And, I use my fingernails to play, scientist. “My father would say, ‘You can’t Isbin contacted Christopher Rouse after launch your rockets until you put in an hearing his flute concerto. “I thought that rather than a pick,” explains Sharon hour of guitar,’” she recalls. beautiful lyricism would translate well to guitar,” she says. “In the case of Lukas Foss Isbin, one of the world’s foremost However, at age 14, the instrument abrupt- [American Landscapes, 1989], I loved the classical guitar players. “You have ly became her focus. She won a competi- way he used folk music and early Amer- tion and the prize was a performance with ican music and I thought, since nobody to coordinate four, and sometimes the Minnesota Orchestra. “Suddenly here has done this in a guitar concerto format, five, fingers of the right hand with I was stepping out in front of an audience I would ask him. For Tan Dun [Yi 2, 1996] of 10,000 people over two days, with the four fingers of the left hand.” This Minnesota Orchestra as a backing band,” I found the Chinese style that draws allows classical guitarists to play she says. “It was a cosmic feeling.” heavily from folk music really captivating, colorful, and mesmerizing.” many voices at once, even a five- From then on, Isbin knew guitar would part Bach fugue, she says. be her life. And she wasn’t going to let As for her favorite concerto? “I would a little thing like the relative scarcity of have to say that I love each one that I am music for the instrument stand in her way. playing at the moment,” she says, adding that she’s performed both the Corigliano For musicians who might want to try At age 17, when she attended a lecture (Troubadours, 1993) and Rouse (Concert classical guitar she offers some tips. First that Israeli composer Ami Maayani gave de Gaudi, 2000) more than 70 times each. of all, find a good teacher. “Contact a about his harp concerto, she approached “It’s important to give a new work life and university near you if they have a guitar him with a proposition: would he write a encourage and nurture it,” she says. department,” says Isbin who created the guitar concerto for her? guitar department at The Juilliard School “It wasn’t premeditated. I had never heard It’s obvious that Isbin enjoys venturing and is director of the guitar departments of this guy before; I thought anybody into diverse repertoire. In April, she pre- at both Juilliard and the Aspen Music that can write for the harp will probably miered a work written by jazz composer Festival. She says graduate students often do a great job on guitar,” she explains. Chris Brubeck. “It has a lot of wonderful make great teachers. “His response was to laugh and say that jazz inflection and Middle Eastern com- the guitar is such a silly instrument; he ponents,” she says. This spring she toured “Learning to listen is critical, in order to would never consider it.” Wounded, but with mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard, and create a really beautiful sound, and devel- not about to give up, Isbin later ran into November this year will see the premiere op the kind of technique that allows you Maayani at a party and asked to play for of a work written by Richard Danielpour to express what you are feeling in your him. for her and Leonard. Isbin also frequent- heart,” she says. ly performs in the trio Guitar Passions “Some months later we met up in New with jazz guitarists Stanley Jordan and Another element is shaping and condi- York, and his response after hearing Romero Lubambo. tioning the all-important fingernails. “It’s me play was, ‘I think we can do this,’” important to moisturize them every time says Isbin. One year later (1976) she had Isbin’s 25 recordings also reflect her di- you wash your hands, especially when the the concerto. versity. In particular, her Dreams of the weather is dry,” she says. “I use a special World CD has folk-inspired music from She has since pursued other composers eight different countries: the US (Appala- silicon-coated sandpaper designed to to write for her and nearly a dozen (so chia), Ireland, Greece, Israel, Spain, Cuba, polish the paint on cars. It allows me to far) have. For all of them she’d heard Venezuela, and Brazil. create a completely smooth edge that is something in their music that she liked. great for sound and prevents them from Some were selected purely by chance. “In For Isbin, each venture into a new genre getting nicked.” the case of John Corigliano, I met him at or style requires study beyond practic- www.MakingMusicMag.com 33 ing the music. “Each orize it.” Memorization Sharon Isbin’s book Clas- time I’ve stepped into allows total immersion in sical Guitar Answer Book a new genre, wheth- the piece. er it was folk music, (String Letter Publishing, At 17, Isbin began prac- rock, bluegrass, or jazz, ticing transcendental 1999) offers advice useful it’s come with an open meditation, which she mind and eagerness to players of any style of says helps her in her ca- to learn. What I find guitar. Here are some prac- reer. “It has so many ben- so exciting about this efits because it allows you tice tips relevant to almost is that I get to fulfill a to really focus on what is positive in life fantasy of being part of that world for a any instrument: and be even more creative,” She explains. moment and participating with those who “I find that the trance-like state that I ➤ It’s always a good idea to plan a basic really are experts,” she says, concluding, enter when I’m doing transcendental outline of each day’s practice so that “It’s very gratifying and makes me grow meditation is very similar to the state that you use your time efficiently. as a musician.” I feel when I’m playing at my best in front ➤ Allow time for warm-up exercises— of an audience. I feel it has facilitated my arpeggios, scales, etc. Preparation ability to enter that realm.” ➤ Estimate how many days, weeks, or Isbin says that her preparation varies months it will take you to prepare a according to the type of performance she Keep It Fresh piece, and pace yourself accordingly. is gearing up for. “I have to be flexible and Once a piece becomes part of her, she ➤ Establish daily and long-term goals. aware of the demands of each experience,” looks for ways to keep her performance she says. “For example, when I am work- of it fresh. “With contemporary works it’s ➤ Use a metronome beginning at a com- ing with Guitar Passions we create on the almost second nature to always look for fortable speed. Advance to the next spot, and when we rehearse and perform something new and different. I find that speed only when the previous one is it is always different. If I am doing a new if I approach each performance as if it perfect. work that I’ve never performed before, might be my last, then that heightens the ➤ the preparation is extremely intense, and experience,” she says. When using the metronome be careful it could be many hours a day of practice not to become too rhythmically inflexi- to get ready. If I’m doing something I’ve Beyond that, for inspiration she recalls ble or mechanical. performed many times, such as the Ro- performances that were particularly drigo concerto [Concierto de Aranjuez] moving, such as in 2002 when she then it’s easier because it’s already in my played during the first memorial to 911 blood, part of me.” at Ground Zero. “I was wondering how I was going to hold up emotionally because To learn new, difficult pieces, Isbin uses it was so powerful. The moment I saw the a step-by-step approach. “I like to get an faces and the posters of the lost loved ones understanding of how it’s structured—the right before me, I realized that this is why phrasing. I think of it like learning poetry. I am a musician, why I am on the planet. I might write phrasing marks on it. It’s I’m here to be part of the healing process like punctuation—commas, periods, for people, whether it’s that experience or new paragraphs, anything that creates an any other. That’s something music can do understanding and allows you to grasp it in a strong, meaningful way.” better and give it meaning.