On this week one year ago Duo Noire and composer Ray Lustig released our debut album, Figments. It seems fitting that at the one year anniversary we have all come together to take this music half way around the world for its China premiere. Let the adventure begin! http://youtu.be/G2tAGx0A5gM?t=92s (at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac))
“We’ve realized that we fell in love with the guitar for the same reason- not because we saw somebody play perfectly but because it touches us where we live.”
No matter what happens tonight, my greatest achievement will remain having tied my own bow tie. Here we go! #classicalguitar #concert #blacktie #tuxedo (at Mahattan New York City)
Really excited to be on the newest episode of the Classical Guitar Insider podcast. Bret and I go completely off the rails and have a no holds barred conversation on the current state of classical guitar. Check it out on iTunes. #Classicalguitar #classicalmusic #classicalguitarinsider #guitar
“You know, music is just not that important … I don’t enjoy messing up, but I accept that the only way to get better is to suck. And some people work really hard to circumvent that process by never playing a song that they haven’t immaculately prepared, and when you play like that and think like that, then nothing magical can happen on stage. You have to learn to leave some room to let things happen. But that requires risk. And if you’re risk averse, you shouldn’t be doing this. You should be an accountant.”
I love my job. #classicalguitar #duonoire
Artist Residency Day 2: Duo Noire after a great outreach concert and interview in Ferguson, MO. #stlclassicalguitar #outreach #ferguson #duonoire #classicalguitar (at Ferguson, Missouri)
Duo Noire is on the cover of the Guitar Foundation of America’s quarterly journal “Soundboard.” It is a huge honor for us because it is widely considered to be the most important classical guitar publication in the world. Inside, it features an article and transcription of ours about the great piece “Juba” by R. Nathaniel Dett. We also have a good CD review of our Figments album inside. Check it out!
A behind-the-scenes look from Duo Noire’s recording session in Brooklyn last summer. This is our recent arrangement of R. Nathaniel Dett’s famous “Juba” dance. It was a common dance performed by slaves on plantations across the south. People would clap and slap their thighs and chests while singing and stomping their feet in 2/4 time (8th + two 16ths). Sometimes a lead fiddler or dancer would show off with increasing virtuosity as the crowd encouraged them. Slaves used their bodies for percussion because they were forbidden from having drums due to a fear that they would transmit coded messages. Glad to share this with the guitar community in the new issue of Soundboard.
“The goal of education is more education. To be well-educated, then, is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends…/If at any point, the journey stops, then education has failed.”