Students enjoy master class during guitar festival
Isaac Bustos' fingers sprinted across the guitar, crystalline notes spilling from the strings as he coached a young student while others observed.
"What I do with my students is take one movement at a time," he told J.D. McNally, explaining a more relaxed approach to the performance of a specific scale. Bustos, 33, was teaching an advanced master class Friday afternoon as part of the eighth annual Brownsville Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition that began Wednesday at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. The festival featured a class and performance on Thursday by Goran Krivokapic of Montenegro; Adam del Monte of Spain was scheduled to perform Friday night and give a class today. The Romeros were also scheduled to perform this evening.
The festival has gone fabulously well, said Michael Quantz, music professor at UTB/TSC.
"The repertoire that the groups are able to perform is much more difficult than last year," Quantz said. "Yet they are able to handle it very very well. So, it's very encouraging to see the level of skill and the level of musicianship increase."
Quantz said groups traveled from California, Indiana and Oklahoma to participate in competition and classes.
McNally, 16, traveled from Oklahoma and he appreciated the coaching session from Bustos.
"I learned a lot of stuff, sound projection, nail shape, and left-hand position, right-hand mechanics, right-hand techniques," said McNally, who is home schooled.
"It's been great," he added. "I learned a lot of different styles of music."
Bustos, a Houston resident who teaches at Texas A&M University in College Station, said he was working with McNally on relaxation of the left hand while playing the scale.
"Basically the common teaching is to hold all the fingers on the frets," he said. "My approach is to have one finger at a time. You don't need so much pressure."
He admired the interest of the students.
"I tell you - what's one common thread is the enthusiasm of the students," he said. "It shows a deep commitment. In terms of what I think they need, it's basically technique."
Quantz said Bustos is a "great player."
"He (Bustos) has a really great rapport with his students in both master class and private settings," Quantz said. "He is very astute in addressing student needs, both technically and musically. He has a great way of putting things; he's always very encouraging, and he knows music real well. He knows how to play the guitar real well."
This was the fourth or fifth time that students from Servite High School in Anaheim, Calif., participated in the festival.
"It's the only youth guitar ensemble competition in the country," said instructor Gregg Goodhart.
"We had a duet play this morning," Goodhart said, "and I think they did wonderful."
The festival inspired Charlie Lopez, 17, to improve his performance through more intense practice.
"They raise the bar so high," he said.
Jesse Perez, 17, said he appreciated the exposure to more techniques and styles and, indeed, planned to work harder.
Goodhart was appreciative.
"Anything that helps me to inspire them to work hard is great," he said.
Some people, like UTB music major Kristina Avila, were lucky enough to be local students who enjoyed the festival at their own school.
"I enjoy everything about the guitar festival, every single thing," said the 18-year-old Avila with great exuberance. "It's a lot of hand technique and how to articulate notes. They are very, very dedicated to teaching guitar. It's a great experience. I think it's sad that classical guitar is at the bottom of the totem pole. It needs to be put way up there."
