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Martha Masters is an internationally renown performer, who has received critical acclaim as both a soloist and a chamber musician with Duo Erato. In 2000, Dr. Masters won the Guitar Foundation of American (GFA) international competition. She is currently on the faculty of Loyola Marymount University, and maintains an active performance schedule. Dr. Masters was kind enough to do an interview for the Classical Guitar Blog. In this half, we talk about how she began guitar, the National Guitar Workshop, and her teaching and recordings. (part 2 of this interview)

When did you start playing guitar? Classical first? What’s your guitar story?

I started playing when I was 6 years old. I have an older sister, and she started playing the violin. I really just wanted to be just like her. My first choice instrument was the cello, but my mom said it was too big to take on the school bus, so I should choose another instrument! My uncle really loved the guitar, and suggested that I play it. I was just to shy to say no….and I’m grateful to him for bringing me to the instrument!

Tell us a bit about your work with the National Guitar Workshop. What sorts of classes or lessons do you run for them?

I work two weeks for NGW every year. One is here in Los Angeles, I run what they call a seminar. I am the only classical teacher, and we typically have about 10 students that I work with all week. We spent about 6 hours each day together, doing a real variety of things such as technical work, interpretive discussion, masterclass lessons, comparative listening, and ensemble playing. It’s quite an intensive class, and by the end of the week, we all know each other quite well- it’s very personal!

The other week is for what they call the Classical Summit, which takes place at their home base location. For the first twenty-some years of the workshop, that was always in New Milford, CT. This summer, the campus moved to Purchase, NY (SUNY Purchase). Both campuses had great features, and I’m not sure yet where it will be next year, TBA! But the basis of the summit is quite different than than the seminar. It’s primarily masterclass lessons with multiple faculty members. Students rotate classes throughout the day. There are multiple classical concerts throughout the week; the students can sign up to play in a juried student recital one evening; and we all work together on a large guitar orchestra piece throughout the week for performance on the last night. It’s a larger group experience, with more players than what we have in LA – just a different vibe, but both are great!

What do you do with workshoplive.com? How does it work? Can anyone take a lesson with you?

A few years ago I filmed a series of 20 lessons for WorkshopLive. They are aimed at people who already know how to play, but who want to improve their skills. These lessons are available for anyone who wants to sign up through their website.

Tell us about the guitar program at Loyola Marymount University. What courses do you teach? Is there a guitar-specific curriculum?

It is a small program, and it’s a Bachelor of Arts vs. a Bachelor of Music. The students are required to take many more core and elective courses outside of music, aiming for a really well rounded student. This means that they simply don’t have time in their schedules for the full array of music curriculum that you get with a BM. So, there is a general pedagogy class that all music students take for one semester (but because the department is small, it’s not guitar-specific). They all take a department-wide performance class each semester, again not guitar specific. They have to take a run of theory and history. I try to make of for the things that they don’t get in those guitar-specific courses in the course of my private lessons with them. We also meet a couple times per semester for a non-required (but very popular) guitar performance class, with just us. We’re a very tight group, and I’ve got a really wonderful group of students at the moment- couldn’t ask for anything better!

What are you looking for in a student?

Good question…I’d say general intelligence, dedication, and passion for music are central to being successful.

You’ve recorded several CDs now, how do you go about deciding what repertoire is going to go on them?

Things seem to just unfold based on what captures my interest at the moment. My latest solo CD is all early 20th century Spanish music. This developed from a concert I was asked to play a couple years back in New York as part of a guitar marathon, where they were covering the Spanish guitar throughout history. I was “assigned” the Segovia era, and this CD is an outgrowth of the preparation for that concert.