• About UANews
• Sign up for News
• Resources for Media
• Calendar
• Contact Us

The weekly concerts help guitar performance majors hone thair performance skills.

By Alexis Blue, University Communications
October 28, 2009

On a late Friday morning at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, a guitarist takes his seat in front of an impressive backdrop of large 15th-century Spanish paintings. As he begins to play, museumgoers trickle into the second-floor exhibit room, joining the group of guitar performance students who have gathered to watch their classmate perform.

This is the scene every Friday at 11 a.m., when undergraduate, master's and doctoral students in guitar performance practice their art in front of a live audience at the museum.

The weekly concert series, which is free to UA employees, was designed to help guitar students overcome performance jitters and give community members an opportunity to hear the students play, said Tom Patterson, director of the UA's guitar studies program.

"We'd like to share this with the community; that's why we're doing this," said Patterson, who has been at the University since 1980.

The UA's classical guitar program is widely considered one of the best of its kind in the nation, and perhaps even the world, drawing students across international borders, Paterson said.

The program's 20 members include students from Brazil, New Zealand, Cyprus and other countries in addition to the United States. They take turns performing at the weekly museum concerts in front of an audience of their peers and members of the general public. (Watch some of the students perform together in this video, produced by the UA Office of Marketing.)

Patterson asks all of his guitar performance students to attend the concerts to show their support. They also inspire one another to be their best.

"No.1, it promotes unity in the group; it's like a team," Patterson said. "And they scare each other. They say. ‘I better get back to work because listen to him or listen to her.'"

Jane Curry, a doctoral student from New Zealand, said she is shy about performing for other people and that the museum concerts are helping her overcome that fear.

"It exposes your weak spots and gets you used to playing for an audience," she said.

Daniel Vildosola, a first-year's master student, said that while playing in front of other guitarists is intimidating, "performing is the only way you know how good you are."

Vildosola was one of four guitarists to perform solo at the museum during an Oct. 16 concert. He said he enjoys playing at the museum because of the good acoustics and relaxed setting.

"It's kind of inspiring with the artwork," he said after playing in an exhibit room filled with15th-century paintings from the museum's ongoing exhibit "Fernando Gallego and His Workshop: The Altarpiece from Ciudad Rodrigo."

The School of Music has partnered with the museum for the concerts for about six years, Patterson said.

He, too, praised the venue's atmosphere.

"What an inspirational environment – the paintings, the lighting, the whole thing," he said.

For Tucson and campus community members visiting the museum on a Friday morning, the guitar musical performances often come as a surprise bonus.

Tucsonan Matt Myhrman was casually perusing the museum's works on a recent morning when the melodic sound of a guitar unexpectedly caught his ear, luring him to join the concert audience.

"I thought it was great. I was very impressed," he said.

The Friday morning concerts are free with admission to the museum, which is $5 for the general public and free for UA employees, students, children and museum members. Anyone interested in attending the guitar performance without visiting the rest of the museum can obtain a free ticket by contacting Patterson at 621-1157 or rtp@email.arizona.edu.