Newsletter – Page 7 – Corvallis Guitar Society

Newsletter January 2017

Dear Guitar Friends,
It’s time to celebrate the 2^nd anniversary of Corvallis Guitar Society, and what a great two years it has been. Four wonderful concerts, twenty-three Society meetings including seventeen featured artists, but enough statistics, what’s most impressive is the quality of music that has been on show and not just from the professionals. There have been magical moments when our own members have got up at the open stage session to share their music and increasingly at our open group ensemble sessions where we are beginning to sound like something worth applauding J So a BIG Thank You to all our members for supporting our events and for joining in. Participation is a big theme for this guitar society and we want that to continue going forward.

Monthly Meeting Location Change
At the beginning of January we held the first meeting at our new monthly venue – Odd Fellows Hall and what a great venue it has turned out to be. The location is downtown Corvallis:

223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333
The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

Odd Fellows is the perfect setting with wonderful acoustics for a Guitar Society that is going to further inspire us going forward. And a special mention to Martin Erwig for writing a great piece of music for the ensemble! There is more to come, and I want to encourage everyone out there who has a modicum of music writing ambition to step up and write something for us to play! I am very pleased to announce that local acoustic blues guitarist Adam Scramstad will be our featured artist for our upcoming meeting on February 6^th. Adam has played for us before and is a great musician and a great performer. Come along and enjoy a great evening of guitar music.

The agenda for the February 6th Meeting is as follows:
7:00 – 7:05pm Welcome
7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist Adam Scramstad

The meeting will take place at the new location – Odd Fellows Hall in downtown Corvallis.

Upcoming Events
As we enter our third year, we have an exciting few months ahead of us:

We have an impressive featured artist line up for our monthly meetings over the coming months including:
Adam Scramstad – February
Yuri Liberzon – March
TBD – April
James Bishop-Edwards – May
Michael Harding – June

Led by our very own Berto Boyd, Flamenco Pacifico will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 27th and 28th starting at 7:30pm. Check out the trailer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yjn-8GjdTxg and for more information and tickets are available on the Majestic Theater website: http://bit.ly/2ht7mtM

I am delighted to announce that our headline performer for the Guitar Festival in June will be Chilean virtuoso Carlos Perez. If you have never heard Carlos play, this is a golden opportunity to see one of the world’s best classical guitarists right here in downtown Corvallis. The Guitar Festival is scheduled to take place on Friday 9^th and Saturday 10^th June 2017. Please mark your calendars and please tell your friends!

Classical guitar duo Neil and Tamara Caulkins are performing at the Willamette Heritage Center Pleasant Grove Church in Salem on the morning of Saturday 28^th January at 10:30am. Neil and Tamara share a rich history of guitar and will be playing works from the early 19^th century on period instruments. Neil and Tamara are planning to come to Corvallis to perform in May – more details will follow, and Neil is giving a paper on guitar improvisation in the early 19th century: Improvising Preludes in the Early Nineteenth- Century: Guitar Methods as an Uncommon Source for a Common Performance Practice. He’ll be speaking on Friday May 26^th at 3pm at the Collier House on the University of Oregon campus.

And on the Teaching Front…
If you are interested in furthering your knowledge and playing of classical guitar in Corvallis by working with a teacher, there has never been a better time. There is a growing number of experienced and well qualified classical/related style guitar teachers in the area and we are all working together to create an environment to meet the needs and goals for all ages and abilities. If your want to know more, check out the guitar resources tab on the Corvallis Guitar Society website: https://corvallisguitarsociety.org/guitar-resources/

Thank you and I hope to see you on February 6^th.

Best Regards
Jon Sharp
President, Corvallis Guitar Society

Newsletter December 2016

Dear Guitar Friends,
Thank you to all of you who attended the wonderful meeting we had on December 5^th . We had great fun during the ensemble session, enjoyed some lovely performances from our members in the open stage session and it was great to hear a wealth of Latin and South American music from our featured artist, Ricardo Cardenas – Maestro of the Milonga! Thanks everyone!

Location Change
Owing to Gracewinds closing, we will be changing location beginning with our upcoming meeting on January 2^nd 2017. The Board has decided to rent Oddfellows Hall in Downtown Corvallis. Oddfellows provides all the elements that will contribute to great Society meetings including very good acoustics, ambience, fixtures and fittings, and public access. We look forward to experiencing this new space and hope you will join us.

The address is
223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333
The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

oddfellows-location

The agenda for the January 2^nd Meeting is as follows:
7:00 – 7:05pm Welcome
7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist our very own Berto Boyd!

The meeting will take place at the new location – Oddfellows Hall in downtown Corvallis.

Organisation Change
The last month has also seen some changes to our organisation. Jerry Graser, one of our founding members, has retired from the Board. I would like to thank Jerry enormously for his enthusiasm and contribution in helping establish the Guitar Society and making it the success that it is today. Jerry will continue to be very much a part of what we do. I am delighted to welcome Jeff Muhr to the Board. Jeff brings with him a passion for the guitar as well as a wealth of experience in the writing and editing business and fundraising in the non-profit sector. He has been an enthusiastic member of the Guitar Society to-date and we look forward to working with him as great addition to the Board.

Upcoming Events
Looking forward to 2017, I would like to remind everyone that we are in the process of planning a Guitar Festival in Corvallis which is scheduled to take place on Friday 9^th and Saturday 10^th June 2017. Please mark your calendars! The Festival will comprise two concerts, a Masterclass with our internationally acclaimed headline concert artist (who we hope to announce soon), and guitar workshops. More information will follow as we nail down the details so please watch this space and please tell your friends.

And coming up in January, Flamenco Pacifico will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 27th and 28th starting at 7:30pm. Led by our very own virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer, Berto Boyd, together with Grant Ruiz, percussionist Terry Longshore, and dancer Elena Villa, Flamenco Pacifico’s guitar-driven performances feature original modern flamenco compositions rooted in the time-honored forms of traditional flamenco. These two performances will be featuring the music from their new album “Convivencia” (coexistence). This concert will also feature two special guest artists joining the group from Santa Barbara: Randy Tico on Fretless Bass and Ryan Zermeño Flamenco dancer and percussionist.

Check out the trailer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yjn-8GjdTxg
More information and tickets are available on the Majestic Theater website: http://bit.ly/2ht7mtM

As 2016 draws to a close, I would like to thank you all for your support and participation in the Guitar Society and I hope you all have a wonderful time over the holiday season. Have a very Happy New Year!

Thank you and Best Regards
Jon Sharp
President, Corvallis Guitar Society

Newsletter November 2016

Dear Guitar Friends,
Thank you to all of you who came to the Guitar Society Meeting on November 7th. Yet again we had a great ensemble session and some lovely performances on the open stage. Thanks everyone!

I am delighted to announce that, following the award of a grant from the Benton County Cultural Coalition (thank you BCCC!), we are now in the process of planning a Guitar Festival in Corvallis which is scheduled to take place on Friday 9^th and Saturday 10^th June 2017. Please mark your calendars! The Festival will comprise two concerts, a Masterclass with our internationally acclaimed headline concert artist (who we hope to announce soon), and guitar workshops. More information will follow as we nail down the details so please watch this space and please tell your friends.

Looking forward to our next Guitar Society meeting on December 5th, I am very pleased to announce that our featured artist will be Eugene based classical guitarist Ricardo Cárdenas. Ricardo hails from Chile and is a master of Latin American music by composers including some of my personal favourites, Heitor Villa-lobos, Antonio Lauro, Agustin Barrios, and Joao Pernambuco. Ricardo also plays his own arrangements of Chilean songs, so come along and enjoy listening to some great music. There is no admission charge, but donations are gratefully received.

I think everyone attending our meetings has been increasingly impressed with our open ensemble sessions. The overriding goal of these sessions is to encourage participation which has been expanding significantly in recent months. The quality of what we are playing is also on the up, but we will continue to include beginner-level material to ensure people of all ability levels are able to join in. As usual, I will post the music on the Guitar Society website one week ahead of the meeting so you can both review and download the parts you wish to play. Bring your parts, your guitar, and footstool and join in the fun!

Upcoming Events: for those of you who were mesmerized by Flamenco star Fanny Ara and her wonderful group at the Majestic Theater this month, and are hungry for more, please note that Flamenco Pacifico featuring our very own Berto Boyd with Grant Ruiz, along with percussionist Terry Longshore and dancer Elena Villa, will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 22^nd. This will coincide with the release of their debut album which you can view (and support if you wish) on the Indiegogo website:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flamenco-pacifico-s-debut-album-music-guitar#/

Many of you will already be aware that Gracewinds Music is closing its store. I would like to thank Ken, Sharon and Travis for their wonderful support which has helped establish the Corvallis Guitar Society over the last 20 months. Thank you Gracewinds! We are in the process of identifying a suitable new venue for our monthly meetings and that will be announced in the New Year. In the meantime, we will continue to meet at Gracewinds Music (3^rd Flr) as usual.

The agenda for the December 5^th Meeting is as follows:
7:00 – 7:05pm Welcome
7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist Ricardo Cárdenas. The meeting will take place as usual on the 3rd floor at Gracewinds Music downtown Corvallis (please use rear entrance).

Thank you and Best Regards,
Jon Sharp
President, Corvallis Guitar Society