Andrés Segovia vs. Education

There’s an arts and crafts store not too far from my house and upon the suggestion of a misguided friend, I was told to go and check out some of their used goods being hocked at a reduced price. To my surprise, the store had a number of used records and cd’s in addition to a rather stunning woman working the register.

I roamed around just long enough to convince myself that nothing was of any great interest to me, but considering I’d taken the time in getting there, the pile of disabused records required a sifting through. More Barbara Striesand than anything else, discouraged, I almost quit, but seeing as there weren’t all too many more discs to get through, I pushed on. And near the end of my dusty journey, I came across a recording by Andrés Segovia. The guitarist recorded a set, rather late in his life given over to his ancestral homeland entitled My Favorite Spanish Encores.

Having only a base knowledge in classical music that barely extends past whatever tunes my mother played on piano, the Segovia name was enough for me to throw down a singular dollar for the pleasure of learning more about this instrumentalist.

After a few listens, I was more than satisfied with that purchase, but still hadn’t attained any great insight into the character who plied these strings. That phrasing – oddly enough – serves as a sort of segue into what Segovia did for music. He was apparently the first player to vocally approve of nylon strings as opposed to the antiqued gut strings used predominately prior to World War I. Of course, based upon which set would be used, a drastically different tone could result.

But part of that tone is dependent upon the pick style a player might choose to use. And again, Segovia affected this discourse as well. Through his lifetime, there’d been a reasonable debate as to whether using finger nails or the pads of one’s fingers were the proper way by which to play. Segovia, instead of settling for this limitation proclaimed that a combination would be to a player’s benefit.

This wasn’t to be the last utterance by Segovia that his critics would take umbrage with.

In his studies, which are reportedly limited, Segovia apparently became displeased with the way in which guitar music was being handed down to new generations. He sought to again focus music on this instrument in a solo setting. And to do this, he needed classical pieces transcribed for him. While a number of composers heeded this call, Segovia himself began to notate a number of works from past epochs. And after his departure for an after life surrounded in azures, these works are some of the most important artifacts tied to his existence.

It seems odd then that some have taken the time to criticize not only Segovia’s teaching, but his playing as well. John Williams, probably the most vocal, has said that the Spanish born guitarist was a “very limited teacher and a limited musician.” To check himself, though, Williams added that his inspiration to others could not be surpassed. But to listen to a work such as My Favorite Spanish Encores, it does seem odd that anyone could try to make that point even if it only cost me a dollar.