Note: Adult students only, please. 

 

I am a guitarist and teacher with over 30 years experience, specializing in:

Classical Guitar

Beginning Flamenco Guitar

Renaissance Lute

French Baroque Guitar

Spanish Renaissance Vihuela

 

• Improve your technique
• Prepare for your college audition 
• Study the repertoire, composers, and long history of the classical guitar

 

1/2-hour ($40) and 1-hour ($70) lessons are offered biweekly.

Bimonthly Guitar Nights: Socialize and play for other guitar students

CONTACT me at: katharynbenessa16@gmail.com

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Recommended books for my classical and flamenco guitar students:

For my beginning students, or students moving from tablature to notation, we’ll start with the Sagreras Method: Guitar Lessons, Books 1-3 by Julio Sagreras

After a month or two of lessons, we’ll want to work on developing your technical skills. These three books are standards in every classical guitarists library. Learn to love them! 

Diatonic Major and Minor Scales by Andrés Segovia ; Slur Exercises, Trills, and Chromatic Octaves by Andrés Segovia; Pumping Nylon: The Classical Guitarist’s technique Handbook by Scott Tennant and Nathaniel Gunod

Eventually we’ll want to add some etudes. An etude is the Italian word for a “study” or a “lesson,” which is a composition that focuses on a certain technique. However an etude can also be a beautiful piece of music! I introduce my students to etudes by Sor, Carcassi, Giuliani, Aguado, and Brouwer.

20 Studies for the Guitar by Fernando Sor, ed. Andrés Segovia; 25 Melodic and Progressive Studies by Matteo Carcassi; Etudes Simples (Estudios Sencllos) by Leo Brouwer 

Anthologies (collections) are terrific sources for getting a large amount of music at your fingertips to explore and practice sight-reading. You can’t go wrong with the Frederick Noad Anthologies (Hal Leonard Corp.). The material is graded from easy to difficult, and each anthology includes information on the style period and composers, techniques, and ornamentation. Plus, you get a ton of music for your dollar.

The Renaissance Guitar; The Baroque Guitar; The Classical Guitar; The Romantic Guitar

For my beginning flamenco guitar students, these two books will get us started:

First Lessons: Flamenco Guitar by Gohar Vardanyan; El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra by Juan Martín

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Education

• Lute Society of America Summer Festival masterclasses with Patrick O’Brien, Nigel North, and Grant Herreid
• Guitar Masterclasses with Nikita Koshkin, Jason Vieux, Judicael Perroy; Giampaolo Bandini, Matteo Mela, Giovanni Puddu (Seminario Estivo di Interpretazione Musicale in Italy)
• Doctor of Arts, in Music History and Literature, Secondary Emphasis in Music Theory, University of Northern Colorado
  
• Master of Music, in Classical Guitar Performance, Southern Methodist University
  • Studied with Robert Guthrie; Miguel Antonio (flamenco)
• Master of Music, in Music History and Literature, Southern Methodist University
  
  • Artistic Scholarship, Meadows School Award
    
• Bachelor of Music, in Music History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
  • Studied with Phil de Fremery; Robert Castellano (lute)

 

Performances (selected)

• Lute and guitar presentations for music history courses at CSU and FRCC
• The Courtier and the Queen: Music of Elizabeth I’s Favorites, played lute with early music ensemble, directed by Grant Herreid, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
• Every Man in His Humour: A Pageant of Temperaments Expressed in English Lute Song, played lute with early music ensemble, Amherst Early Music Festival, directed by Grant Herreid, Connecticut College, New London, CT
• Harmony in the Round, Harmony Library, Fort Collins, CO
• Laudamus Chamber Chorale, guitar accompaniment, Fort Collins, CO
• Di Due Voci: An Evening of Courtly Song from the Baroque Era, Fort Collins, CO
• Cider & Song, Art Museum at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
• J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, Dallas, TX
• 5-College Collegium Musicum and the Early Music Program, guitar and lute, Amherst MA

 

Classical Guitar Lessons, Fort Collins, Northern Colorado