Claudio Camisassa
Les Productions D’Oz: 66 pages (CD included)
This composer is well – known among the guitar fraternity for his many fine pieces of all shapes and sizes. Here he puts his hand and mind to a tutor book that literally starts at the very beginning and is largely, I feel, aimed at the younger beginners, although I can see that any age of player can probably benefit.
At the opening of the book he places his General Objective, those being firstly learning and developing the basic movements of both hands. Secondly there is learning to sight –read on open strings and then in first position, and finally practising with 2 or 3 guitars to aid a better development of a sense of rhythm, and of course that being a more fun way to practise music.
After that the writer is very careful not to go too quickly from one step to the next and there is plenty of places where the pupil has to write down various things in a way that helps him to remember everything he has come across so far.
However the main part of the book is the actual very many pieces for solo, duo, and trio that range from the very easy, to the moderately easy, with a number of the pieces using the teacher for the second guitar part.
I found the book interesting and a slightly different take on the usual tutor books in that it does try to accommodate the younger player in a manner that they won’t find too difficult to understand and yet at the same time really giving a great many hints and tips that would be useful to any age of player. So, all in all, this could be a good book for the teachers amongst you.
Chris Dumigan