For more than seven years, VCU guitar students have been performing minifestivals at the VCU Music Center. These festivals have showcased the works of Bach and Kant, as well as Baroque styles of music, but the most recent one featured Spanish guitar music.
John Patykula, assistant chairman of the Department of Music who coordinates the guitar program, said he was impressed with the students’ most recent performance.
“I thought everybody did very well,” he said. “It’s different when you’re just going out and playing one or two pieces. You don’t get that chance to warm up.”
Two weeks ago, the Classical Guitar Festival featured the “Music of Spain,” where students played classical Spanish songs that represented different time periods. Audience members heard music from the Renaissance through contemporary times during the two-day event.
Each student sat on a small stool at the front of the stage, performing one to two songs each with the background consisting of a red drape hanging from a large arch.
With the indoor and outdoor lighting showing through the stained-glass windows directed toward the stage, the scene allowed the audience to focus solely on the music.
Steve Ashby, a graduate student, performed first the second evening.
“I was not necessarily nervous about going first,” Steve Ashby, a graduate student who played the second evening of the event, said. “But when performing, nervousness is always going to be there.”
A former music-performance major, Ashby returned to VCU to continue his guitar studies. He praised his teachers, saying he also is thinking about pursuing a teaching career.
“You make money playing gigs, but you supplement that with teaching,” he said.
As a professor, Patykula emphasized the importance of the students live experiences in the music center.
“For performance majors, that’s what they’ll be doing,” he said. “For music (education) majors, they’ll be teaching students who will be getting up on stage.”
Having played his guitar at several places throughout Virginia with his band, Ashby agreed that performing onstage is important for music majors.
“Getting out of the practice room and sharing your ability with an audience is great,” he said.
After the performance, students and faculty described the VCU Music Center at 1015 Grove Ave., as a great site for performances. Once the main building used for musical performances, Ashby said the acoustics in the room are excellent for classical guitar.
“It helps project guitar really well,” he said.
Patykula attributed the superior sound to the wood used in building’s structure.
Noise, he said, also travels into the hall from outside as well as from within the building.
Natalie Quick, a freshman music-performance major, was not disturbed by the saxophone being heard in another room while she played her instrument.
“Other people heard it, but I didn’t,” she said. “I kind of tuned it out.”