David Malone is Guitar Professor and Coordinator of the guitar program at the University of Tasmania, in Hobart, Australia. He has spent this semester living in Oberlin with his two children and his wife, Maria Grenfell, a composer and U of Tasmania colleague, who is on a one-semester appointment on the Oberlin Conservatory composition faculty. I’ve very much enjoyed getting to know them, having spent some time with them both in and outside the Conservatory. Asked to teach a class for the studio, David kindly agreed, and on Tuesday, he spent about three hours with the guitar students, considering a number of guitar-related subjects of interest to us all. Here is a photographic recap of the class:

First, Julia Bodian played the Scherzo from there Ginastera Sonata:

Then, Craig Slagh played the Stanley Yates arrangement of Albeniz’ Mallorca:

Caeli Massey played the Gigue from Bach’s Suite BWV 996:

Finally, Suvan Agarwal played the Toccata de Pasquini, from Brouwer’s Sonata:

Thanks, David, for that terrific master class! We enjoyed your words of wisdom and we all benefitted from your advice on interpretation, technique, practicing, and more. Next time, we hope to get you on stage for a concert too. We’ll miss you here, when you return to Australia to reclaim your normal life!