Education
Presentations
Featured educational presentations in the first hour of our meetings have been given on a wide variety of topics by BGS members and outside speakers. Examples of past topics include: history of the classical guitar; important guitar composers such as Tárrega and Sor; guitar building (luthiery); music styles (such as renaissance lute and Hawaiian slack key guitar); amplification methods for acoustic guitar; and music practice techniques.
Open Stage Education Time
The second hour of each meeting allows people to play a piece before a real audience. This is an education for both the player and the audience.
Music students at the University of Colorado may utilize the meetings to have a dress rehearsal of their recital programs.
Local guitar teachers also send their students to play during this part of the meeting, sometimes accompanying them in a duet.
It’s open to anyone, time permitting.
Sightreading Handouts
Since 2023 we’ve been providing monthly sightreading handouts to encourage members to practice reading simple melodies in a variety of positions on the neck. The seasonal theme and whimsical fretboard graphic vary each month, but the challenge is the same. Sightread the unidentified music on the front page and see if you recognize the melody, then look at the back page for answers and entertaining links to youtube and wikipedia. See the Jan2024 handout for concise instructions on how to begin sightreading. The complete list of handouts is maintained on Jeff Olson’s web site.
Music Library
We still have a good library of guitar music that members may check out at the monthly meetings. But the albums are all CDs. We may donate the collection to a good cause, so if you have an idea please contact Toby.
