At a young age, music stirred emotions within me that were initially confusing, leading to…
Sydney Jazz Flamenco Guitar Concert Thomas Lorenzo
Concert Insights
On June 17th we celebrated our concert in Sydney with my Spanish guitar and Hugh Fraser on Upright Bass. We performed a selection of tunes from my past and present albums.
This concert also served as the presentation of my Guitar School in Sydney that caters for group guitar lessons and private lessons in a variety of music styles such as jazz, flamenco, blues and pop.
The main objective of all my courses is to help develop improvisational skills and this is what we delivered at the concert.
The Jazz Idiom
When I perform I deliver all compositions in a manner of what I consider to be the jazz idiom. As such I define a music space where performers reinterpret the head of the song by listening to each other, creating variations and taking the song beyond standard boundaries.
This form of playing allows one to interact with the audience to levels where standard written music cannot.
The Spanish guitar and the Upright Bass are instruments that blend well together and if the interpreters are versed in the language of jazz improvisation, the nature of the instruments will allow for a huge array of melodic variations that are just so pleasant for all of us to hear and enjoy.
The audience got very engaged and as the Sydney Flamenco Jazz Guitar concert progressed I truly felt that slowly we were all becoming a unity in spirit. This is the magic of music.
The Role of the Bass Player
Hugh Fraser accompanied on the bass in a very subtle and creative manner during our Sydney Flamenco Jazz guitar concert. As guitar students learn in all the online and in person courses, the objective of the accompaniment is to define the rhythm of the song and the bass does so by defining the harmony with melodic lines.
These melodic lines are constantly moving around the chord, making each chordal note vibrate. Chords are no longer considered a specific area of tension but an area of tension to play around with. For example: if we have a G chord that lasts 4 beats, a good bass player will define the G chord but the how will depend on what precedes or follows as it could also involve reharmonizations.
Playing with Hugh is an extension of how we normally chat together where we share ideas and build on them over a cup of tea. Music is another language that expresses much deeper emotions and in a more spatial dimension.
How do you Organize Your Tunes Live
Ahh this is where the magic of jazz improvisation comes into place. The unifying element will be the groove and the repeating element will be the melody of the song. How we play it and its variations will be a choice of the moment.
This form of playing allows the musicians to flow with the audience, as when we play live we are talking to them and feeding from them. As a consequence we have to modify what we do and how on the go to keep the feel going.
This is similar as when you are having a good time with your friends. The more the merrier and the more you feel you are part of the group and listened to, the better.
Music is a Social Experience
Music allows this form of interaction from a point of view where the judgment of words do not exist. Ahh once again the beauty of music.
The regular society misses out on this form of interaction and I feel that most people just go through their daily lives floating around and waiting for a miracle to happen to make them happy.
Music has the power to make this happen during every second of your life if you learn to play with others. You cannot just play in your home for yourself. You must play with others and have the opportunity to experience the joy of sharing groovey emotions.
You can see that even in my online guitar courses I strive for group learning so students can interact and feed of each other.
In the online courses, as we do have regular weekly sessions, I make sure all students interact by participating in group assignments. This means that they help each other record all projects that have to be handed in on a weekly basis.
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