The first meeting of the month is a Liverpool Guitar Ensemble Rehearsal the second is a Society Meeting.

All of the following dates are confirmed and are all Thursdays:

Liverpool Hope University generously support us by providing a great venue for our meetings, and we hold our regular meetings and rehearsals at the brand new Capstone Building, which is a purpose built £6.5 million centre for Music and Performing Arts. The building is on the Liverpool Hope Creative Campus, on Haigh Street/Shaw Street, Everton.

The Liverpool Guitar Society holds monthly meetings on the last Thursday of each month.

There are also monthly ensemble meetings at the same venue and time a fortnight after each Society meeting (the second Thursday of each month).

Liverpool Guitar Ensemble is the only mixed ability classical guitar group in Merseyside. We will be trying out new repertoire for performances, and honing some of our old favourites. We always welcome new members – good sight-reading and playing ability helps, but we pride ourselves on being an inclusive, mixed ability group, so everyone who is willing to work hard and listen hard is welcome!

Unless otherwise stated, all meetings will run from 7pm to 9.30pm, with a 10 minute refreshment break:

The Liverpool Guitar Society meetings tend to follow a loose structure:

Intro:

Welcoming any new members / introduction to the group and format

Assigning an ‘experienced member(s)’ as a ‘contact point’ – who can introduce new member as to who everyone is, rough grade ability and any particular role in the Society – treasurer, Musical Director etc.

News on:

(a) Gigs – by Society ensemble(s) or individual Society members; visiting guitarists (organised by the Society); other concerts in the area

(b) Group finances

(c) Other guitar news

Playing Opportunities

(a) an opportunity for a set number of people (to keep time structure) to play solo – in order of technical difficulty grading of pieces to be played, so that people playing grade 2 pieces do not have to follow someone playing a Grade 8 piece for example.

(b) There may be the opportunity to have more than one room available so duets / ensembles could the divide up, people could take part or just watch. Playing with other musicians is a rare opportunity for guitarists (especially classical) so this represents an informal chance to learn about listening, keeping time etc. These will cater for all grades and sight reading abilities.

(c) The Musical Director decides upon the pieces to be played and their order, taking into account time available and technical difficulties of the pieces. This is done at the start of the meeting.

10 minute Refreshments Break

Presentation / Workshop / Discussion

Future examples we hope to include:

Recording – local sound engineer attending to discuss and advise on recording the guitar;

Looking after your guitar – local luthiers to explain best practice guitar care and setup;

Nails – a nail specialist to compare techniques for creating nail shape and offering advice

Tone and dynamics– presentation and discussions using DVDs videos on themes such as tone.

Ensemble performance(s)

Closing ‘performance’ by any duets / ensembles

Here is a link to a details of how to get to the venue (google map – please note google’s satellite photography is out of date and was taken whilst building was under construction!). If travelling by car, here is information about access. Car parking is ok on the roads around the campus, although we ask you please be considerate to residents of the area.

The address is:

Capstone Building
Liverpool Hope Creative Campus
17 Shaw Street
Liverpool
L3 8QB