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A Student Report:A week in San Miguel de Allende for a Guitar Vacation RetreatSan Miguel de Allende is known mostly as an artists’ colony, but when I was there in November [2007], I had an extraordinary musical experience. My husband was taking an intensive photography course there, so we thought that I should study something too. So, I did a little search on the web and found Jack, Frances, and their week-long guitar retreat. I thought it would be a good opportunity to start playing my guitar again. I had not played a note for more than 30 years!The retreat began with a small party at their home in a Mexican neighbourhood, about a 5 minute drive from the center of town. It was a musical evening and when I heard Jack and Frances play their guitars, I knew that I was in for a great week! |
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I went to their home every morning for 2 to 3 hours and we worked together on all sorts of things.
They loaned me a lovely hand made guitar from Paracho, which made the journey to San Miguel much
easier and I could practice after my lesson. I was very rusty, but they made me comfortable and
it wasn’t long before we were playing together.
We covered something new each day. We played some blues, classical, and pop. It was so much fun! One day we sat in the shade under a tree and played together. They made mundane guitar practice quite thrilling. While I tried to regain some playing ability by repeating monotonous exercises, they would accompany me and turn a routine scale into a masterpiece! One morning Jack gave me a song he had written about San Miguel to play. It is a beautiful piece. I asked if he had any similar music that I could take home to work on. He sat down at his computer and promptly wrote me 2 lovely pieces that I practice now, and are a good reminder of that extraordinary place. I play these songs almost every day when it is raining. They remind me of the sun. In addition to guitar lessons, some interesting excursions were included. We visited a famous luthier to see how guitars are made in a suburb of San Miguel. I learned about the different kinds of wood that are used and how they sound. One evening we had dinner at an excellent Italian restaurant and listened to Gil and Cartas play Mexican folk, flamenco, gypsy jazz and blue grass music with Doc Severinsen, Johnny Carson’s former bandleader and trumpet player. The experience was intoxicating! By the end of the week, I had achieved my aim of getting back into guitar in one of the loveliest cities in the world. I continue to learn from Jack and Frances who email me recordings and sheet music. However, there is no place quite like San Miguel de Allende, so I will return one day to enjoy its languid pace and play guitar. Cathy - GVR November '07 | ||
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Last page update 08-02-08 |
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