Marcelo Kayath (Segovia Masterclass, USC, 1986)

You probably know well the 1986 Segovia Masterclass at the University of Southern California for its legendary confrontation between the maestro Andrés Segovia and then up-and-coming young player Michael Chapdelaine over fingering choices. But you probably may not know the videos from some of the other players in that same class (and there were some great players in that class). A new video emerged this week from renowned Brazilian virtuoso guitarist Marcelo Kayath playing for the maestro in the same class. Marcelo has this to say about the video on his facebook page:

In July of 1986, twelve guitarists were selected to play for Andrés Segovia in what was to be his last Masterclass before his death in February of 1987. The students sat on the stage to watch the classes from close, while hundreds of people in the audience tried to cheer us to do our best before El Maestro. This was my first day of classes—I was so nervous that I thought I would not be able to play the first note (in fact, I missed it entirely!). An unforgettable experience, and a great lesson. Enjoy!

There are some excellent pedagogical nuggets here. For instance, Segovia tells the young Kayath, “You must be the general of your fingers. You know? Because you obey your fingers. And your fingers should obey you.”

Enjoy.