A substantial amount of early music for the guitar remains unknown to modern performers and audiences. In recent years, however, musicologists, scholars and performers on period instruments have provided a wealth of accessible new source materials which players can now begin to interpret in convincing and effective ways. Nevertheless, many still feel intimidated by the prospect of sorting through and learning to use these resources for the first time. for the uninitiated, just knowing where to start can be difficult.This anthology contains representative selections from the publications and manuscripts of four important Spanish Baroque guitarists: Gaspar Sanz, Antonio de Santa Cruz, Francisco Guerau, and Santiago de Murcia. In addition to being fun and entertaining music for all to enjoy, this collection is intended to help bridge the gap between scholarly editions and performance editions by providing a hands-on introduction to tablature transcription and to issues concerning historically informed performance on the modern guitar.

James Tyler offers a practical manual to aid guitar players and lutenists in transitioning from modern stringed instruments to the baroque guitar. He begins with the physical aspects of the instrument, addressing tuning and stringing arrangements and technique before considering the fundamentals of baroque guitar tablature. In the second part of the book Tyler provides an anthology of representative works from the repertoire. Each piece is introduced with an explanation of the idiosyncrasies of the particular manuscript or source and information regarding any performance practice issues related to the piece itself -- represented in both tablature and staff notation. Tyler's thorough yet practical approach facilitates access to this complex body of work.

Scholarly editions, which serve different purposes than performance editions, are not often designed with the modern guitarist in mind. for instance, Renaissance vihuela tablatures are usually transcribed with the open first string as G, not E. Most are presented in double-staff notation, a medium that is superior for realizing counterpoint but unconventional as guitar notation. Furthermore, these editions sometimes give idealized, but not realistic, solutions for voicing, note duration, and other matters that need to be considered within the limitations of our instrument. Guitarists who try to play from these editions essentially are faced with the task of transcribing the transcription!This 188-page anthology is designed as a companion volume to the Baroque Guitar in Spain and the New World (MB21122). It includes representative selections, edited for modern guitar, from the seven books for vihuela that were published in Spain between 1536 and 1576.As well as being fun and entertaining music for all to enjoy, these collections are intended to help bridge the gap between scholarly editions and performance editions by providing a hands-on introduction to tablature transcription and to issues concerning historically informed performance of early music on the guitar.A 188-page anthology, edited for modern guitar, from the seven books for vihuela that were published in Spain between 1536 and 1576A companion volume to the Baroque Guitar in Spain and the New World (MB21122)Intended to help bridge the gap between scholarly editions and performance editionsAn introduction to tablature transcription and to issues concerning historically informed performance of early music on the modern guitar.

In this book, guitarist and music historian David Grimes presents 20 “small sonatas” or sonatinas, complete with detailed performance notes and bio sketches of each of the contributing composers: Leonhard von Call, Matteo Carcassi, Ferdinando Carulli, Mauro Giuliani, Francesco Molino, and Antonio Nava. While flexible, the early 19th-century sonatina form usually consists of 2 - 4 contrasting movements, here in guitar-friendly keys, making these pieces ideal for performance by intermediate-level students. In all but the most challenging passages, Grimes has intentionally kept fingering to a minimum to allow students to form their own concept of this critical skill. Then, as many bass notes in these pieces are played on open strings, the player must develop a sense of when to selectively damp dissonant tones or observe a rest— exposing and overcoming yet another shortcoming in the education of many guitarists. Most classic guitar teachers are familiar with the easy didactic studies by Carcassi, Carulli and Giuliani; Favorite Sonatinas offers more highly developed, but not yet virtuoso pieces by the same Italian triumvirate— plus three more composers in a similar vein— promoting confident, enjoyable sight-reading by guitarists of all levels.

This publication presents a lightly modernized, fully corrected, reliable edition of Francisco Tárrega’s more idiomatic transcriptions and arrangements for the classic guitar. Tárrega, who was also an able pianist, chose works by diverse composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann to arrange for his own guitar performances, greatly expanding the concert guitar repertoire of his time.This publication provides today’s players with a dependable edition of these works that can be seamlessly incorporated into any modern concert program. Written in standard notation only for the intermediate to advanced guitarist, this collection features pieces that were less commonly heard on the guitar and sound remarkably fresh to this day.

This collection of 30 classical guitar transcriptions of works by Christoph Graupner highlights this forgotten master’s unique contributions to Baroque music. Originally composed for cembalo (harpsichord), these delightful French dances may remind you of Bach and Scarlatti, two of Graupner’s better-known contemporaries. This book contains a brief biography of the composer, performance notes, and the original title, key, source, and publication date of each piece. The arrangements are written in standard notation only with left-hand fingering suggestions. For ease of learning and to provide a stylistic guideline for sight reading, online audio recordings are included.

An exciting collection of Balkan music featuring songs from Bosnia, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Enjoy captivating sounds and compelling rhythms on this exhilarating musical journey through the Balkan Peninsula. Fully fingered for an enjoyable sight-reading experience.

In this book, Dr. Lily Afshar has clearly laid out the music and fingerings for 48 beginning to intermediate-level pieces by Aguado, Bach, Carcassi, Milan, Mertz, Sor and other Renaissance through nineteenth-century composers. While many of these selections are set in first position for ease of reading, they are effective for teaching different rhythms and arpeggio techniques, as well as for learning to play simple intervals and three and four-note chords. These compositions were carefully chosen for their use in developing finger independence in both hands, and can be used to advance rest stroke, free stroke, arpeggio, and tremolo techniques. Dynamic markings have been added for interpretation if not originally indicated in the originals so, in addition to learning positions and note locations along the fretboard, you’ll have to pay attention to dynamic and tempo changes. Written in standard notation only, this book is ideal for private study, as a teaching and student recital sourcebook, or for inclusion in the syllabus for a high school or first-year collegiate guitar program.

Robert Johnson (c. 1583 – 1633) was the last of the great English lutenists; he served Prince Henry and was later a prominent figure in the court of Charles I. He wrote music for many plays and masques of the time, including several by Shakespeare. Decades after Johnson’s death, in a “Dialogue between the Author and His Lute” within Musick’s Monument and the persona of the Lute, writer and lutenist Thomas Mace described John Dowland and Robert Johnson as “Two famous men; Great Masters in My Art”. Despite such high praise and the fact that much of Johnson’s music is well-suited to the guitar, few guitarists play it. This comprehensive collection of solo lute works, transcribed for guitar in standard notation, is an attempt to remedy this shortcoming. It includes music for the beginner as well as the advanced player. The book’s 23 pieces range from Johnson’s delightful almains, galliards, masques and a single coranto to the somber intensity of the pavans and a fantasie. Dropped-D and lowered third-string tuning (F#) are frequently used to better approximate the tuning and range of the 9 or 10-course Renaissance lute.

This book of 53 intermediate-level guitar pieces is derived from Le Secret des Muses, a two-volume collection of lute tablature by Nicolas Vallet (c. 1583 – c. 1642). Born in France, by 1614 Vallet had relocated to Amsterdam where he established a dance school and was active as a composer, lute teacher and leader of a consort that played at weddings and festivals. Le Secret des Muses is among the last published collections of French lute tablature intended for the 10-course Renaissance lute, which was ultimately supplanted by the larger 13-course Baroque model. Most of these pieces consist of traditional European dance forms, but also contains a few settings of popular lute themes and longer works suitable for concert performance are included. Written in standard notation only with occasional drop-D tuning, these pieces make excellent sight-reading and warmup material as well as historically significant concert selections.