KEEN's GTR

At the beginning of December, we planned our 2007 SGU Annual Guitar Concert, and then workout the date, 15th December 2007. There were 6 Rock N' Roll bands and 2 wood guitar players with different styles: heavy metal, Death Metal, Goethe punk, blues, China style rocking, finger style and classic. Although the concert was held on 15th, I start my trip on the date of 13th, to see some old friends and old boys.

Afternoon at 13th December: the train stopped at the Shaoguan Railway Station, and I get off it. The temperature there is lower than Guangzhou so much. I carried my guitar, jumped into a taxi went to 黑仔's music instrument shop held at West Riverside (西河). We just talked about music, guitar after lunch, and played music together... In the evening, 黑仔 took me to a restaurant with his friends I 'd tasted the Nanxiong food, it's spicy but delicious! I went to meet 温盛远, one of my roommate when we were studying at the SGU, now working in Shaoguan. He provied accommodation for me and gathered some old boys to have a good meal at the midnight. Our conversation ranged over many topics just like life, career, money and marriage. Once upon a day we studying in the same classroom, once upon a day we got together again and maybe once upon a day, we would be strangers...So many thanks for 温盛远's hospitality.

14th December: woke up and started to practice on my guitar. 'cause of the colder weather in Shaoguan, I must take more practice than usual to warmup my fingers. At the same time, the cold and dry climate make my spruce top classica guitar sounds better than it is in Guangzhou. Further more, the Hannabach Silver 200 strings let me play sweet tones on it. There were about 2 weeks for my hard working without the guitar after all, I still had some problems to play some of the notes of my repertoire. I started to worried about my performance next day. But thanks god that I'd coped with it in that evening... I went to SGU  by taxi after lunch. The bill of the course was cheaper than Guangzhou so much. I met 老邓, 猪头, 阿迪 and other bandsmen, had word with each others, told them my repertoire, then started my 8 hours practicing in the studio next to the concerthall...

15th December, the performing day: They got up early and went to the concerhall to do rehearsal and setup the sound and lighting systems. To them, the sound system is a most important part of their show, 'cause they were all using electrical instruments. But, to me, I just need a microphone, one chair, and my guitar with the footstool. So I had a good dream and got up at noon, even had a good rest after lunch, then practiced again in the afternoon. When it was 17:00PM, everyone on show was gathering in the SGU Concert Hall, testing the instruments put on the stage costumes, waiting for the big show. I was in the 5th Part, Classic Guitar on the show. I played 2 classic pieces and 1 pop music. The audience was listening quietly when I was playing, and clapped their hands warmly after the performance and asked me to play encore for them. I'll upload the video clips when I get it. And here is some information of my performance:

Title: 2007 SGU ANNUAL GUITAR CONCERT

Part: 5th, CLASSIC GUITAR PERFORMING

Performer: KEEN KWOK

Repertoire

I. EVOCACION (from the SUITE DEL RECUERDO by Jose Luis Merlin)

II. PRELUDE NO.1 (Villa-Lobos)

III. JUHUA TAI (Jay Chow, arranged by Keen Kwok)

Encore: PIPA'S WHISPER (Lin Hai, arranged by Keen Kwok)

Instrument: CONCERTO CG-20 CLASSIC GUITAR

STRINGS: HANNABACH SILVER 200 CLASSIC GUITAR STRINGS

我的录音计划——布劳威尔20首练习曲，今天终于完成，说说大致情况吧。

曲集名称：Etudes Simples by Leo Brouwer，中文译作《简易练习曲集》

作者：Leo Brouwer，里奥·布劳威尔，古巴人，现在最重要的吉他作曲家之一，前卫吉他音乐代言人，也是国际乐坛著名的作曲家和指挥家。如果弹古典吉他3年以上还不认识这个人，就应该去读读吉他音乐史:)

练习曲集：名字叫做《简易练习曲集》，弹了几首之后才知道自己“上了贼船”，大呼上当。虽然每一首练习曲的篇幅都不长，每一首练习曲都有特定的练习目的，但从谱面的标注和实际的学习过程来看，每一个曲子对音乐的要求都非常高，与“简易”二字恰恰相反。20首练习曲中，其中No.1-No.10完成与1961年，创作风格前卫，以无调性作品为主；No.11-No.20完成于1981年，作品的调性比较明确，基本回归到主调音乐上，曲风清新了不少。

我的个人情况：业余吉他爱好者，平时工作较忙，练琴时间不固定（经常出现“这个月有空练琴，下个月基本不弹琴”的情况），但今年11月份基本上能保持每天晚上有1-2小时弹琴时间，而Brouwer的这个练习曲集给我的最初印象就是短小精干，是最适合上班一族学习的练习曲集，所以给自己安排了这个任务。其中我自己最喜欢的是第1、4、5、6、7、9、11、14、16、18号。

学习进度：在20首练习曲中，前10首相对来说比较简单，针对性极强，而且No.1和No.6在几年前已经弹过，基本上能保证每天学一首、录一首的进度；后10首技巧综合性增加，难度稍大，需要多花时间去解决一些技术难题，学习和用于录音的时间较长。在正常工作的情况下用25天时间完成20首录音，这是我从未试过的，可能会有人说我在“赶火车”，呵呵，但这个月对于我来说实在是练琴的“黄金时间”，再不“赶火车”的话，恐怕以后难有这样的好机会。当然，用“赶火车”的方法录出来的东西肯定好不到哪儿去，请各位琴友多多批评。话说回来，对于有中等水平的琴友来说，在一段短时间内完成这20首练习曲，应该问题不大的。

录音概况：

乐器：CG-20古典吉他 （1999年的签名版“协奏” CG-20，“协奏”制琴师郭汝光老师退休前制作了2把全单手工吉他，这是其中一把，广东吉他研究会编的《古典吉他考级曲全集》封面上用的就是这把琴）
琴弦：D'addario EJ46
录音：自家房间 普通家庭用MIC Cooledit2.0 降噪及混响处理。麦克风的底噪很大，但为了避免由于过度降噪而使声音失真，处理的时候把嘶嘶声留了下来。

连续收听20首练习曲：http://www.tudou.com/playlist/playindex.do?lid=1994524

进入下载页面：http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=98e2b5c0deb81aa291b20cc0d07ba4d28b484398ba1477e9 

20首练习曲录音明细，博客发贴地址：

No.1 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10606187.html

No.2 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10579232.html

No.3 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10594836.html

No.4 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10636607.html

No.5 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10636729.html

No.6 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10341112.html

No.7 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10636858.html

No.8 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10660267.html

No.9 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10696373.html

No.10 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10696373.html

No.11 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10790620.html

No.12 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10790725.html

No.13 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10852496.html

No.14 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/10853588.html

No.15 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11065005.html

No.16 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11066130.html

No.17 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11066613.html

No.18 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11067306.html

No.19 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11070234.html

No.20 http://keenkwok.blogbus.com/logs/11071035.html

曲目：练习曲第二十号 Etude No.20

作曲：Leo Brouwer

演奏：KEEN

乐器：CG-20古典吉他

琴弦：D'addario EJ46

录音：自家房间 普通家庭用MIC Cooledit2.0 降噪及混响处理

Click here to download  1.78 MB

练习曲集里的最后一首，也是最耐人寻味的一首，曲子的开头和结尾一段直接从第19号练习曲里搬过来，一模一样，不同的是乐曲中间由快速圆滑音构成的无穷动乐段，也就是外国吉他手所说的Leo Snake——“布劳威尔蛇”。这个无穷动乐段分A段和B段，每段给出若干个主题，每个主题用方框框着，后面带一条波纹线，故被戏称为“蛇”。每个主题的重复次数由演奏者自己决定，每个乐段开头的牌号是前所未见的“四零拍”……快速圆滑音的不断变奏和重复，够折腾的。。。

曲目：练习曲第十九号 Etude No.19

作曲：Leo Brouwer

演奏：KEEN

乐器：CG-20古典吉他

琴弦：D'addario EJ46

录音：自家房间 普通家庭用MIC Cooledit2.0 降噪及混响处理

Click here to download  1.41 MB

这首曲子着重练习由四个音组成的柱式和弦，颇有Villa Lobos的风范。除此之外，曲中还有不少圆滑音练习，单音和双音圆滑音在不同乐句之间交替出现，而且很注重左右无名指和小指的独立运动，很有练习意义。曲子的结尾出其不意地来了一个Rasg.

曲目：练习曲第十八号 Etude No.18

作曲：Leo Brouwer

演奏：KEEN

乐器：CG-20古典吉他

琴弦：D'addario EJ46

录音：自家房间 普通家庭用MIC Cooledit2.0 降噪及混响处理

Click here to download  2.52 MB

这可能是Leo Brouwer 20首练习曲里写得最唯美的一首，旋律和合声都比较简洁，速度也很慢，但格调却异常高雅。这个曲子的练习重点依然是装饰音，由接二连三的三连音和五连音组成。练习这个曲子的最大感受：原来装饰音可以这样弹——自由散漫；原来小二度音程可以这么美——I级和IV级的大七和弦；原来五个升号的B大调并不难视谱和演奏——谱子用三个升号的A大调来标注。