True musical talent

By David Tatum
Graduate Assistant

The Saint Louis Classical Guitar Society has a compact disc available in the SIUE bookstore that rounds up the area's best classical guitar acts for its yearly Guitar Summit.

In case you are wondering what a classical guitar player is, it's someone who can play guitar about 50 times better than anyone you hear on the radio. Since classical players usually only play instrumentals, their music is an acquired taste. However, if you enjoy listening to guitars, check this album out.

The non-profit Classical Guitar Society has been around since 1963, and puts on a number of events beside the Guitar Summit series. There is an annual concert series which brings to this area some of the most accomplished classical guitarists in the world.

Kirk Hanser of the Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo is also the director of the Childbloom Guitar Program, which puts on a matinee series for 3,000 area grade school students. The society also has a master class program which provides instruction on classical guitar to budding local talent.

Four acts appear on the Guitar Summit disc. The first is Bill Park, who has been playing fingerstyle guitar for 25 years but only recently began playing publicly. By day, he is a 20-year veteran of the Defense Mapping Agency, where he works as a cartographer. This guy is self-taught, which makes his playing even more phenomenal. Check out his rendition of "If I Only Had A Brain" from "The Wizard of OZ." It's hard to believe there is only one person playing in the song.

The second performer on this live disc is Dave Black, who was voted "Best Acoustical Guitarist" and "Best Solo Artist" in the 1996 reader's poll of the Riverfront Times. He is more of a conventional classical guitar player than Park, which means his music sounds more, well, classical. He is also really good, and his three tracks are a pleasure to listen to.

The third act on the disc is the Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo. John McClellan is Professor of Guitar at Webster University, and his partner Kirk Hanser won the Childbloom teacher of the year award in 1996. The duo is the Ensemble in Residence at Webster University. Three of their tracks on this album are original compositions. A lot of times classical guitarists make music that is dry and hard to listen to, but not these guys. They have a rare gift of playing technically advanced classical music that is consistently engaging.

The last act on the disc is Grupo Mediterraneo, which is composed of current and former SIUE students. The group is headed by Amir Arab, who received his engineering degree from SIUE. The band recently changed its name to Acoustic Internote, but they still play a unique brand of world music in this area. Check them out at 9 p.m. Saturday at Neruda, located at 4 Club Centre Ct. They will also be performing Sept. 22 at the Cheshire Inn, which is near the huge Amoco sign off Highway 40 in St. Louis.

The Guitar Summit album can be found at the service counter in the bookstore, and

it costs $12.