Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Guitar Summer School with Stephen Gordon, Gerald Garcia, VIDA Guitar Quartet (Mark Ashford, Mark Eden, Helen Sanderson, Chris Stell), Alison Smith and David Cottam. The course commences at 3.00 pm on Saturday August 13, finishes after breakfast on Saturday August 20th and runs in conjunction with the ExeGuitar Festival. Attendance on the course is limited to 16 participants with good reading ability – at least grade 5/6.

Guitar Ensemble:- the main focus of the course is ensemble. Working together in two small ensembles and occasionally as one group, we will study, rehearse and perform movements from the 3rd and 6th Brandenburg Concertos by Bach and Chinese Whispers by Gerald Garcia.  Music for these will be emailed well in advance and participants are expected to be familiar with the music so we can start with and maintain a high standard. The ensembles will meet for two sessions each day.

Tuition:- Gerald and Stephen, two highly versatile and respected musicians renowned for their work with guitar ensembles, will be resident for the week coaching the groups and teaching. Visiting artists will teach, conduct workshops and classes including a ‘compose for guitar‘ session with David Cottam, prolific composer of guitar music.

Jurassic Coast

Accommodation is in large single rooms in two beautiful Georgian Town Houses in the centre of Exeter and limited to a maximum of 6 people per house. Concerts are in the Phoenix Arts Centre and Friends Meeting House, both venues a few minutes walk from the accommodation.

Exeter:- The Cathedral City of Exeter is the capital of Devon. Exeter has a beautiful historic centre and fine riverside and canal walks. Its pivotal position within the county makes it ideally placed to visit many of the internationally famous locations in Devon. Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks, the Jurassic Coast of Devon and Dorset and the unspoilt beaches of two coastlines are a few miles from the city centre.

Concerts:- Vida Guitar Quartet brings together four guitarists of exceptional ability and virtuosity sharing a passion for chamber music. After their spectacular debut at the first World Youth Guitar Festival in 2007, the quartet are rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting guitar ensembles in the world.  Stephen Gordon will perform a programme of music on Baroque guitar and 19th century guitar illuminating a sound world unique to these delicate and historic instruments. Alison Smith - her recent performance at the International Guitar Festival of Great Britain was hailed as enthralling…demonstrated sheer virtuosity…superb technique and sensitivity” David Cottam has established himself as one of the UK’s leading guitar composers. His music features widely in the ABRSM examination syllabus and his best selling collections Zebramusic and Zebracadabra are rapidly becoming standard repertoire for student guitarists. David will be playing a programme of his own compositions followed by a class on composing for guitar. The Mandolinquents:- virtuosic playing from the world famous and multiple award winning Simon Mayor, Hilary James, Richard Collins and Gerald Garcia. The final concert will feature the rehearsed ensembles.

Exeter Quay

Fees:- £595 residential, £340 non residential. The fee includes all tuition and ensemble coaching, concerts, accommodation, breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon coffee/tea, with use of the house kitchens. This does not include an evening meal – the accommodation is 5 minutes walk from the city centre where there are plenty of really excellent restaurants, cafes and bars – this is reflected in the price. Accommodation can be arranged before/after the course.

To book a place or any enquiry email your name and contact details to esgmusic@googlemail.com

or phone  44 (0)1392 254097.

Stephen taught guitar and conducted guitar ensembles at Dartington College from 1982 – 2005 (giving  the European premiere of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint with the college guitar ensemble), Exeter University from 1995 – 2005 and is currently a member of the teaching faculty of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.  He has conducted classes in performance, ensemble, figured bass and fretboard harmony at the Royal College of Music, Tilburg and Groningen Conservatoires (Holland) and from 1993 – 2002 at the internationally renowned Iserlohn Guitar Symposium.  Stephen has given recitals and taught at festivals in the UK (most recently at West Dean), Holland, France and Germany playing on baroque, 19th century and modern guitars. He plays theorbo and baroque guitar continuo with various period instrument ensembles.

Stephen was associate lecturer of music at Exeter College from 1995 – 2005.  During this period he conducted Teignmouth Choral Society, Exeter College Choir, Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. Under his directorship the chamber orchestra was invited on three occasions to perform in the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Music For Youth Festival, on two occasions gaining the outstanding performance award.

Stephen founded and directed the annual Prussia Cove Guitar Seminar, the pioneering Summer School for guitar and guitar ensemble and subsequently founded esgmusic to publish his guitar ensemble arrangements of orchestral music. This has now  developed into a substantial catalogue of music used by guitar ensembles worldwide with items from the solo guitar catalogue appearing in the new ABRSM guitar syllabus.

Zebramusic and Zebracadabra by David Cottam are rapidly becoming two of the most popular publications of beginner and intermediate repertoire for the guitarist.  The pieces are instantly appealing, varied and very performer friendly focusing on right hand development and making lesser demands on the left hand.
Zebramusic contains 26 pieces in a superb edition running to 44 pages of top quality music, from which four pieces are listed in grades 3 – 6 of the new ABRSM syllabus.  It’s a great book for all guitarists.

Zebracadabra contains 17 pieces – two are listed in grade 2 of the new ABRSM syllabus. Together with the other 15 pieces this book is an invaluable collection of very playable and attractive repertoire for the early guitarist!

For more information and prices email info@esgmusic.com

We have created an esgmusic youTube channel.

There are currently 6 recordings from ‘Zebracadabra‘ and ‘ZebraMusic‘ that appear in the new ABRSM syllabus (grades 2 to 6) All the guitar pieces are composed by David Cottam and performed by Stephen Gordon. Guitar by Robert Russell.  You can visit us at http://www.youtube.com/esgmusic.

The Grade 2 pieces are from Zebracadabra, Grade 3 to 6 from Zebramusic.

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[playlist id=0]

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Zebramusic and Zebracadabra by David Cottam are rapidly becoming two of the most popular publications of beginners and intermediate repertoire for the guitarist.  The pieces are instantly appealing, varied, very performer friendly focusing on right hand development and making lesser demands on the left hand. Zebramusic contains 26 pieces in a superb new edition, combining the popular ZEBRA MUSIC Books 1 and 2 and including 9 new pieces, running to 44 pages of top quality music, from which four pieces are listed in grades 3 – 6 of the new ABRSM syllabus.

They cover a wide range of moods and styles, explore different techniques and have that wonderful quality of being instantly appealing.  They are performer friendly, focusing on the development of the right hand technique while making lighter demands on the left hand.
Fingering and string indications have been kept to a minimum and are usually only included where a particular effect is required.

David Cottam studied guitar at the Guildhall School of Music.  He is a prolific composer of music for guitar and composes in many different styles from ragtime, blues and romantic miniatures to celtic inspired ballads and neo-classical studies.

Visit the Media page to watch performances of the pieces listed in the current ABRSM syllabus

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‘the pieces in ZEBRAMUSIC contain that special combination of valuable technical studies disguised in an enjoyable and entertaining framework’
Richard Wright

‘these attractive pieces are instantly appealing. Clever use of finger patterns result in them sounding a lot harder than they are to play. They will also revitalise even the most seriously flagging student’
Alison Bendy

‘a lovely book to develop technique and above all musical imagination’
Marijke Dillingh

‘my pupils were immediately taken with these pieces. The clarity of purpose makes the teachers job a lot easier….a great source for studying technique’
Luke Dunlea

‘ZEBRAMUSIC has expanded the student guitarist’s repertoire with their intelligent, varied and often witty music. The pieces here will inspire even the most jaded pupil.’
Jamie Akers

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17 original easy guitar solos by David Cottam

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Zebramusic and Zebracadabra by David Cottam are rapidly becoming two of the most popular publications of beginners and intermediate repertoire for the guitarist. The pieces are instantly appealing, varied, very performer friendly focusing on right hand development and making lesser demands on the left hand.

Zebracadabra contains 17 pieces – two are listed in grade 2 of the new ABRSM syllabus.Together with the other 15 pieces this book is an invaluable collection of very playable and attractive repertoire for the early guitarist!

They cover a wide range of moods and styles, explore different techniques and have that wonderful quality of being instantly appealing. They are performer friendly, focusing on the development of the right hand technique while making lighter demands on the left hand. Fingering and string indications have been kept to a minimum and are usually only included where a particular effect is required.

David Cottam studied guitar at the Guildhall School of Music. He is a prolific composer of music for guitar and composes in many different styles from ragtime, blues and romantic miniatures to celtic inspired ballads and neo-classical studies.

Visit the Media page to watch performances of the pieces listed in the current ABRSM syllabus

_______________

‘the pieces in ZEBRAMUSIC contain that special combination of valuable technical studies disguised in an
enjoyable and entertaining framework’
Richard Wright

‘these attractive pieces are instantly appealing. Clever use of finger patterns result in them sounding a lot harder than they are to play.
They will also revitalise even the most seriously flagging student’
Alison Bendy

‘a lovely book to develop technique and above all musical imagination’
Marijke Dillingh

‘my pupils were immediately taken with these pieces. The clarity of purpose makes the teachers job a lot easier….
a great source for studying technique’
Luke Dunlea

‘ZEBRAMUSIC has expanded the student guitarist’s repertoire with their intelligent, varied and often witty music.
The pieces here will inspire even the most jaded pupil.’
Jamie Akers

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