Community Residencies

The Portland Guitar Duo offers a number of master classes, workshops and educational programs with emphasis on ensemble performance.

As a duet team the Portland Guitar Duo seeks to promote and teach the art of ‘playing with others’ as a way to better overall musicianship. The classical guitar is considered primarily to be a solo instrument, performing in an intimate setting.

The Portland Guitar Duo wishes to demonstrate through teaching the numerous possibilities of the guitar in the ensemble setting and provide students of the instrument with various resources for further exploring this new repertoire. With this as a goal, the Portland Guitar Duo has developed 3 specific programs that can be used either separately as a one time class or in any combination in a community residency setting.

Master Class

The Portland Guitar Duo master class concentrates on ensemble performance. All guitar ensemble combinations are welcome to perform, duos, trios, quartets or multi-guitar ensemble.

Additionally, any combination of guitar with other instruments can perform e.g. guitar with flute or guitar with violin. As a courtesy, the performers should provide a copy of the score of the chosen piece and in case of a transcription a copy of the score of the original version.

Historical interpretation and ensemble technique are the focal points. Performing with others and presenting a composition as a group, illuminating the form as a goal, attention to individual parts and the performers’ technique are all addressed as parts that create a complete musical performance.

The Prepared Guitar Workshop

This is a unique workshop offered by the Portland Guitar Duo. The aim is to expose the participants to the alternative medium of the prepared guitar and give them the chance to perform such compositions.

The interest that compositions for prepared guitars spark at our concerts has prompted us to create such a workshop. Prepared guitar music leaves behind all stereotypes associated with classical guitar music and uncovers new timbres, sonorities, textures and tuning possibilities for the instrument.

The workshop is offered in 3 stages:

• A brief talk outlining the concept and history of prepared guitar music. The possibilities and achievements of its color palette. How composers write and present music for prepared guitar.
• Guitar preparation. The participants are given a composition and the instructions for preparing the instrument. The Portland Guitar Duo has collaborated with composer Rebecca Oswald, currently on the University of Oregon faculty, to develop prepared guitar duos, trios and quartets. These compositions have been carefully crafted to showcase a number of choices and have been designed to be read with ease prior to performance.
• Score study. The participants are given a set amount of time to read and transfer the score to the fingers and fingerboard. Guidance and instruction is provided for correct interpretation.
• Performance. The compositions are performed in class. The participants are invited to comment on them and discuss the concept of prepared guitar music. The Portland Guitar duo will close the workshop offering some final thoughts.

The Guitar Duo History
Lecture – Demonstration

The purpose of this lecture is to present the history of the guitar duo genre by focusing on its repertoire and some of its most significant performers.

The choice of repertoire is discussed in terms of performing transcribed music for 2 guitars (the sources of music, what constitutes a good transcription, the importance of transcribed music in the guitar duo genre) versus original music for 2 guitars (the composers, some notable compositions, the nature of guitar duo music in the 20th century).

A number of guitar duos are discussed in respect to their contributions to the genre. How their technique influenced the repertoire and composer to write for the guitar duo. Guitar duos are compared and their differences are outlined. Among the duos covered are: Presti – Lagoya, the Williams – Bream duo, the Abreu brothers and the Assad brothers to name a few.