We now give you my long, overdue review of Middle Tennessee State University’s Tennessee Guitar Festival 2011, hosted by Dr. William Yelverton on June 1st-4th, 2011. I know these things are supposed to come out right after the event happens, so my apologies for that. The only excuse I have is that I’ve been on two continents, 13 different states (11 U.S. and two Brazilian), and have traveled almost the distance of the circumference of our planet since then. I won’t apologize for that, though. I had a blast!

First of all, the format of the festival was outstanding: youth and open guitar competitions, workshops, and master classes by day with an all-star cast of performers and educators, and concerts by night from the same all-star cast. Then, after the shows, there was a party at Dr. Yelverton’s house every night. And let me tell you, these folks know how to par-tay!

This all-star cast included Roger Hudson, who, with the exception of Take Five, played an all original set, which was one of the highlights of the entire festival. What a great way to kick off the weekend! If you are a fan of a classical, jazz, fingerstyle hybrid, definitely check out Delta or any of Roger’s other CDs.

University of Miami Frost School of Music associate professor, Rene Gonzalez dazzled with a collage of brilliance that included Sagreras, Falu, Tucci, and Piazzolla. Jose Lezcano, whose achievements and credentials include two Grammy nominations, played a combination of stunning originals and works by Napoleon Coste and Celedonio Romero, to name a few. Hudson, Gonzalez, and Lezcano: all of this on day one!

Day two started with the first rounds of the Youth and Open Competitions, which were almost as equally impressive as the concert the night before.

The concert for that evening was by the virtuosic genius of Matt Palmer. Palmer was GI’s 2010 Recipient of the “Up and Coming Guitarist of the Year,” and he has been a rising star ever since. Winner of numerous guitar competitions, Palmer recently published The Virtuoso Guitarist method book that outlines his techniques of lightning-speed scale passages using A-M-I right hand picking. I definitely recommend this book if you want to shred nylon!

Matt Palmer's masterclass

Early in day three, the Youth Competition Finals were held. Congratulations to all that participated. The results were:

Youth Competition:
$300 First Prize – Sojourner McClure
$200 Second Prize – Veronica Eres
$100 Third Prize – Meade Forsythe

Day three’s concert was by Grammy winner, William Kanengiser. It was a great pleasure watching him play his guitar and work the crowd. He is one of those performers that you can tell LOVES what he does within the first five seconds of watching him. His interpretations of Giuliani, Sor, Brouwer, and Bartok were exquisite. He played a handful of pieces by contemporary composers such as Dusan Bogdanovic, Bryan Johanson, Fred Hand, and Brian Head. His performance and stage antics were Grammy-worthy that evening!

Bill Kanengiser teaching a student during his masterclass

Master classes by Matt Palmer and William Kanengiser were brilliantly insightful. Their versatility and vision helping students, both young and seasoned veterans alike, was a great pleasure to watch. The finale of day four was the Open Competition Finals. Again, congratulations to all of the participants and winners. These are the guys to be looking for in the near future:

Tennessee Guitar Festival Open Competition:
$1500 First Prize – Edel Munoz
$750 Second Prize – Jeremy Collins
$500 Third Prize – Erol Ozsever
$300 Fourth Prize – Joseph Palmer

The Tennessee Guitar Festival 2011 was one of the best festivals I’ve seen this year. I hope to return next year, and you should, too!

A special thanks to everyone that I shared laughs with, and especially Bill Yelverton for welcoming me into your home and treating me as one of your own. I had a blast, and you are definitely a great host!

The Virtuoso Guitarist Volume 1: A New Approach to Fast Scales

By: Jesse Mazzoccoli

Matt Palmer’s The Virtuoso Guitarist Volume 1: A New Approach to Fast Scales just came out a few months ago and it’s already on its 2nd printing! I’ve had the great opportunity to preview it and give feedback, and review it and do the same.

Matt does an excellent job of explaining his technique throughout the book, first giving a brief history of how he developed his technique, and then a complete run down between the approaches to both hands.

In Part I, he addresses the Left Hand. One thing to take note of: Matt started out as a self-taught shredder, and some shredders have the finest of facilities within their left hands. So a lot of the scale runs he does are intentionally set up using 3-note per string scales: a shredder’s bread and butter.

The Right Hand is the focus of the much larger Part II. Matt addresses many aspects including fundamentals, tone, and rest stoke vs. free stroke, which is a topic that I think more authors of method books could address. Another gem of brilliance is his approach to thinking of music or musical passages as a single event instead of thinking about all of the notes in a piece or musical passage. I know many people have their own takes on this approach, but Matt does an excellent job of making such an abstract idea tangible enough to understand just by reading it. Many instructors have issues SHOWING this to students, leave alone writing it with success!

Matt’s explanations for the issues of getting caught up playing triplets because of the consistency of using three fingers (AMI), and the fact that we will have one and two notes per string in some places is genius, but I don’t want to give too much away. This book is a must for the 21st Century guitarist, and even though it focuses heavily on classical guitar, it’s a great approach for any finger picking style of guitar.

The Musical Applications sections show you how to incorporate these virtuosic techniques into the scores that you are already playing or plan to play. This is a great tool for approaching the same pieces with a new flair!

Part III is packed full of Advanced Techniques that focus on direction changing, chromaticism, ascending and descending shifts, and much, more. Get yours before he runs out again. But even if they do run out, they are well worth the wait.

Matt Palmer receives an A+ rating for his genius and technical approach in The Virtuoso Guitarist Volume 1: A New Approach to Fast Scales!

Check out this amazing video of Matt Palmer playing Appassionata by Ronaldo Miranda to get an idea of his amazing technique and passion:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa is the remarkable, debut recording by D.C. based classical-guitarist Matt Palmer. Consisting primarily of music by Spanish composers, such as fan favorites Rodrigo, Turina, and Tarrega, the album also features works by Giuliani, and a virtuosic rendition of the “Sonata Mongoliana” by contemporary composer Stepan Rak, among others. Palmer delivers an absolutely incredible performance on this album. His command of advanced techniques, a refined sound, and a high-level of artistic expression, make Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa a classical guitar album of the highest standard.

Matt Palmer Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa

The album’s title track, which was written by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo, is an incredible display of flamenco-guitar techniques. Slurs, fast scales, and fiery rasgueados, all help to make this an attractive piece, to both guitarists and casual listeners. Palmer’s expressive interpretation makes the piece’s rapid-fire scale lines seem so effortless. Coupled with the precision he displays when capturing the Spanish rhythms, and this piece is a prime example of why Palmer is turning heads everywhere he plays. His ability to play with astonishing technique, while maintaining a strong focus on emotional context, are two of the biggest reasons that Palmer stands out from amongst the crowd of young, virtuoso classical guitarists.

Palmer’s interpretation of Joaquin Turina’s “Sonata op.61” has to be one of the finest on record. His tone and expressive character bring every note and chord of this difficult piece to life. Palmer’s subtlety and delicate approach to playing the rhythmic motive during the first movement draws the listener in. Then, when it’s time for the quicker sections, Palmer jumps right in and delivers some of the fastest and cleanest scale passages imaginable.

Palmer concludes the record with a brilliant performance of Stepan Rak’s “Sonata Mongoliana,” which is an absolute wicked piece. Containing all the elements needed to produce a great guitar piece; fast slurs, simultaneous melodies, sound effects, tremolo, percussive strumming, and emotional fire. Palmer performs this difficult piece with grace, passion, and a sense of ease that would be daunting for any world-class player to achieve.

Un tiempo fue italica famosa is an album of the highest caliber. Palmer performs with flawless technique, deep levels of personal expression, and an artistic integrity that seems far too rare these days. He delivers a first rate performance on each track, and performs with such a deep knowledge of the music it leaves no doubt that he is on his way to becoming one of the best classical guitarists on the planet.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo Credit: John Wunsch

Summer is here and for guitar players around the country that means it’s time again to pack their bags, load up their instruments and head to dozens of different guitar workshops, festivals and weekends across the country. The number of summer guitar workshops has ballooned over the past few years, providing participants with great new options, but this has also made choosing the right workshop that much more difficult. People can attend classical guitar camps, jazz guitar weekends, week-long rock guitar intensives, the list goes on and on. While many of these events are turning to gimmicks and fads to bring in students, others are focusing on providing world-class artists, a quality educational experience and a wide variety of well-taught classes to draw in their audience. The Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop is an event that firmly fits into the latter category of summer guitar programs.

2010 will mark the fifth anniversary of the Festival and Workshop, which has quickly become the destination of choice for guitarists in the know. Featuring some of the biggest names in the business, including this year’s lineup of Phil Keaggy, Michael Chapdelaine, Ricardo Cobo, Adam del Monte, Matt Palmer and many more, Interlochen gives students the chance to study with some of the finest players in the world and at one of the most storied musical institutions in the country.

While other summer guitar programs can boast of having big name artists and diverse course offerings, few, if any, offer them with the intimacy and personal attention that Interlochen does. Choosing to focus on smaller class sizes, rather than bumping up numbers at the expense of the students’ experience, the Interlochen Workshop provides participants with a chance to dig in, working in close quarters with their instructors, peers and guest artists. Though only in it’s fifth year, the Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop has already established itself in the upper echelon of summer guitar programs, and is a program that is well worth experiencing.

Registration for the weekend will close on August 1st and will be limited to 120 participants on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in attending the workshop, but you’ve missed the deadline, you can still submit an application and if there is space, or a cancellation, you may be able to sneak in.

Detailed information on the Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop, a full list of courses and artists, a 360 degree tour of the campus and instructions on how to register can be found by clicking here.

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Matt Warnock: You have a core group of teachers and players that are at the workshop every year along with guest teachers and performers. Who are some of the new guitarists that you have on the roster for this year’s workshop?

John Wunsch: Having Phil Keaggy at an event like this is very big for us. He’s still out there performing, but he tends to limit himself on how much he gets out on the road. As far as acoustic players, he’s absolutely one of the top masters of the instrument. He’s such a unique artist and he’s got his own style. He’s not an Alex DeGrassi or an Andy McKee, he’s got all of those techniques in his playing, but the way he combines them is pure Keaggy.

Click to Learn About the Workshop’s History from Director John Wunsch

The great arranger and performer Michael Chapdelaine will be joining Keaggy on stage during the acoustic finger-style concert. Michael’s a great performer, one who truly straddles the classical and finger-style worlds. Anyone who can win both classical competition medals and national finger-picking championships is going to put on a great show!

Courtesy of Interlochen.org

Matt: Phil’s such a great player. Is he going to be teaching at the festival as well?

John: Absolutely. He’ll be doing a class on looping, where he’ll talk about the loop pedal as a practice, performance and compositional tool. As well, he’ll be doing his “show and tell” class. That’s a great chance for the audience to get right in there and ask questions, really interact on a personal level with a master of the instrument.

Matt: Being Interlochen you always have a strong lineup of classical artists at the workshop, who are you featuring this year?

John: For the classical side of the workshop we’ve got Ricardo Cobo, who’s a very established artist, Adam del Monte, who is unparalleled with his ability to play classical and flamenco at world-class levels, and Matt Palmer, who is a young guitarist that’s making waves all over the world with his playing, just an amazing young artist. This will be a great night of classical guitar music, and the three players are so diverse that even though they all fall under the umbrella of classical guitar, they’ll each be presenting their own, personal take on the genre.

Check Out GI’s Interview With Classical Virtuoso Matt Palmer

Matt: There’s also a Latin jazz night this year if I’m not mistaken.

John: That’s right. The other concert will be our Latin night, featuring jazz artists and classically-influenced Brazilian music. We have a great player coming in, Nonato Luiz, who is well known in South America and Europe, but he’s never been to the States before, so we’re delighted to have him here. This will be his U.S. debut and we’re very excited to have him at the workshop.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ll also have Bruce Dunlap on this concert, who is a widely sought after sideman, having worked with many great Latin singers. I refer to him as an improvising guitar genius. He doesn’t have a giant name like some of the other players at the festival, but he’s an amazing player and his concerts are always unique and extremely entertaining.

This concert will also be special for us because it features two Interlochen alumni in the rhythm section, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Nick Halley. Both are amazing young players and it’ll be exciting to hear them backing up Bruce during his set.

Matt: Have you changed the format at all? You tend to have a few surprises up your sleeve every year, what have you done to keep things fresh for this year’s workshop?

John: Well, the main thing we changed was the number of teaching sessions that are going on at one time. We used to do seven sessions at the same time, every hour, for almost three days. Which was a ton of fun, but people were often conflicted with which classes they picked. There were almost too many choices. This year we’re narrowing it down to five choices every hour for the participants. That way they still have myriad options to choose from, but it’s a little less overwhelming in that sense. We’re also offering some of the more popular classes twice so people can check those classes out and not miss something else that they really want to attend.

We’re also going to extend the lunch hour, partially to give students a chance to catch their breath, but also to feature mini-concerts each day by one of the guest artists. They’ll be short, fifteen minute concerts, but they’ll be very intimate and the students will get a chance to go up and talk to the artist afterwards, which will be very fun for everyone. Some of classes will also be a little longer, running an hour and a half, or two hours in some cases, to give people a chance to dig deeper into some of the more in-depth subjects.

In the past we’ve had clinics on guitar maintenance and building, which we’ll continue this year, but instead of featuring the classical guitar in these workshops we’ll shift the focus to acoustic guitars. These aren’t clinics on how to build guitars, instead, they teach people about how to care for their guitars, as well as what their options are when they go out and buy a custom, or even factory, guitar. People really seem to like these sessions and we’re going to continue to offer these every year.

Matt: Are you still offering performance combos as part of the session?

John: Each day we have an hour to an hour and a half where our four different combos meet to rehearse. One of the exciting aspects of the combs this summer is that our acoustic-classical ensemble will be performing a wonderful new piece by James McGuire. He composed the piece for the Mid-America Festival this year and he’s allowed us to perform it at the workshop this summer. Brian Morris from Grand Rapids conducted the Mid-America performance and he’ll be returning this summer to conduct it at the workshop as well. It’s going to be a great performance and fun experience for the students involved.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ll be adding a jazz combo class this year, along with two different levels of the blues-rock group, and of course the acoustic-classical ensemble. The rhythm sections will be made up of professional musicians, including Matt Brewer and Nick Halley for the jazz combo, so students get a chance to play with experienced pros in an ensemble setting. Then we’ll all perform for each other on a concert Saturday night before the Keaggy-Chapdelaine show.

Matt: One thing that people always want to know regarding workshops like Interlochen, besides who’s going to be there, is where are they going to be staying. Do you have dorm rooms for people on campus or do most people stay off campus during the weekend?

John: Participants have five options when it comes to their housing during the workshop. We have a hotel on campus, cabins they can rent on the lakeside and dorm rooms right next to the cafeteria. There’s also a campground right across the street from campus or they can stay in a hotel in Traverse City or the surrounding area. The hotel on campus tends to fill up rather quickly so if people want to stay there they should try and get those booked early to ensure they get a room.

Matt: People don’t need to be experts to enjoy the workshop, there’s something for players of all levels to enjoy isn’t there?

John: We have a great guitarist, Dr. Brad DeRoche, running our beginning class. This is a guy who has a DMA from Eastman and will be performing the Arjunez Concerto in South America next month, just a world-class performer. So students will get a chance to learn the basics from an experienced educator and concert guitarists, not something they can do everyday! As well, our Tai-Chi for Guitar instructor Francois Carew will be doing a beginning repertoire class that people can take.

Check Out GI’s Interview With Classical Guitar Guru Dr. Brad DeRoche

These guys are at such a high level of pedagogy that they can integrate players of all levels and experience into the class, get them playing the material quickly and allow them to have fun. We get players of all backgrounds at the workshop. Some have been playing for years, others only a few weeks or months, while others have been playing off and on for a few years but haven’t had the time to sit down and really dig into it. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, no matter where they are in their development as a guitarist.

Courtesy of Interlochen.org

Matt: In closing, why do you feel that people should choose the Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop instead of one of the other countless summer guitar programs out there?

John: Aside from the big-name artists and excellent teachers we feature during the workshop, Interlochen is a special place, where the top performers, composers and conductors in the world have come to study, perform and teach over the past century. It’s got such a rich history and just being here, surrounded by that great heritage, offers a unique quality to people who get a chance to come here and study, even for just a weekend.

We also offer a wide-variety of styles and genres that people can study. This isn’t a classical guitar weekend, or a jazz guitar weekend, it’s a guitar weekend. There are flamenco, classical, jazz, rock, blues and finger-style players and teachers here. It’s a true, multi-genre event. This is a place for people of all levels to come and study, listen to and perform all the different styles of music that feature the guitar. How much more exciting can you get than that?

The concert classical-guitarist seems to be a dying breed of musician these days. Yes, there are plenty of performers out there who maintain busy touring schedules, and who are releasing albums of new material yearly, or even bi-yearly in some cases. But, the number of classical guitarists who make a living solely on their touring income, without having to take a teaching position or teaching privately, is dwindling. Every year it seems that more and more players have to supplement their touring income with other employment, not because their art lacks merit, but because live music of all genres is facing stiffer competition for the minds and ears of the concert going public.

Though pursuing a career as a professional classical guitarist in today’s modern era seems like a daunting task, to say the least, that hasn’t frightened away young players from pursuing their dream of touring the globe. Guitar in hand, these young lions are out there everyday, perfecting their crafts in the practice room, writing, arranging and recording new material, and winning over the hearts of listeners worldwide with their unwavering passion for their craft.

One of the names that has risen to the top of this list of young virtuoso guitarists in recent years is D.C. based Matt Palmer. Possessing enough technique for three guitarists, as well as a heightened sense of musicality and emotion, Palmer has been turning heads as he criss-crosses the nation’s concert halls. A full-time performer, Palmer has recently released his debut album, Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa to great praise from critics and fans alike. The album is a reflection of Palmer’s current touring program and is a showcase for his dazzling chops, gripping emotional approach and his diverse musical tastes.

Matt Palmer recently sat down with Guitar International to discuss the recording process of his latest album, why he chose the pieces he did, and the trials and tribulations of his first year out on the road as a concert classical-guitarist.

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Matt Warnock: One of the unique things about the album, especially since it’s your debut album, is that you did all the recording and mixing yourself. How did you approach that process and how did it turn out for you, being your first self-recording project?

Matt Palmer: On the technical side, I ended up using a stereo pair of Neumann KM 184′s. I got a lot of depth out of those mics and they seemed to provide an accurate representation of my guitar tone, at least compared to other, similar mics that I tried out. For the recording itself, I went the laptop route. I got an audio interface, a MOTU MK3, the new version. Routed that into an Apple computer with some good memory, and that’s all the hardware and software I used.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Motu interface came with free software, which was basically a stripped down version of Digital Performer called Audio Desk. I didn’t really need all the bells and whistles that come with Digital Performer. I basically needed to be able to record stereo tracks, which came with the software, so I was lucky, I didn’t have to purchase a separate program.

As far as the experience is concerned, I’ve had absolutely no training in this sort of thing so I was learning as I went. That was probably the biggest hurdle during the whole process, that lack of self-recording experience. One of the biggest problems I faced early on was just figuring out where and how to properly place the mics. Since I was using two mics, it was really important to find good placement and direction for them so that I could get a solid sound down on the recording. Of course, the first thing I did was point them both at the soundhole, which was a huge mistake. [Laughs] It was all bass. With experimentation and some info I pulled from the internet, I ended up pointed one at the bridge and one at around the twelfth fret.

Check out GI’s Review of Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa

I was basically right in the furnace, because the mics were about a foot from the guitar. Because they were so close I really had to worry about string noise, fret noise, nail noise, there’s no way to avoid that with the mics a foot away from your hands. We all tend to ignore that stuff in our playing, because with the distance that a stage provides a lot of that noise is lost by the time the notes reach the audience. That’s not the case in a recording situation.

Matt W: Did those noises ever cause you to go back and alter your technique, or fingerings, because it wasn’t apparent in the practice room, but once you got the piece on tape those sounds really jumped out and you had to adjust your approach to the piece?

Matt Palmer: Definitely. A couple of the pieces on there, such as “Sonata Mongoliana,” with all of the rasgueados and the tremolo-rasgueados, there’s a lot of noise that can be produced there. Because of the extra noise that those techniques produce, I ended up moving the mics back about four or five inches, but you can’t really tell in the quality of the sound on the recording, except that those extra noises don’t stand out so much. I also had to play quieter and really focus on my plant. I had to make sure my nails were in really good shape when I went to record, just to avoid all of those little noises that can creep into my playing when recording.

I also learned that I can’t move once the red light goes on. For the longest time, when I was doing some early experimental recordings, I kept finding this popping sound in every track. I thought it was a digital pop, something that was happening in the hardware or software. Then I realized it was my guitar support. The suction cups were slightly moving, because I was moving, and it was causing that noise to be heard in the recording.

I could also hear the acoustic differences that would occur when I would move a bit. I would find this wash coming through in the middle of a track, because I had moved a bit back and forth, so I learned to sit still.

Matt W: Because you’ve had a long career already, especially for someone as young as yourself, you have a long repertoire list that you’ve built up over the years. When it came time to record the album, how did you pick and choose which tracks you would include and which you would leave out?

Matt Palmer: Those pieces are really what I was playing at the time. I’m sure I could’ve picked a theme, like Spanish music or something, but the album is basically a concert, what people would see me play in a concert. That was the idea behind the album. Just record the pieces that I’m playing in concert right now.

Matt W: Because these pieces are incredibly demanding from a technical standpoint, you really have to make sure your chops are in order when performing and recording them. What do you do in your daily routine to get your chops ready to record and perform these pieces in public?

Matt Palmer: I think I have a pretty standard practice routine and for me, I think scales are the most important thing for me to practice. I don’t know if this is the same for everyone, but I find that if I work on a lot of scales, that everything seems to come together for me. I start with practicing scales at a manageable tempo, then I add bursts into the scales to build up that initial burst of speed that’s in a lot of the pieces I do. Then I just let it fly and try to push my max tempo just a little higher then it was yesterday.

Check out GI’s “Artist Profile” of Matt Palmer

I also practice different combinations of right hand fingers to build dexterity, such as i-m, a-m alteration and a-m-i for the really fast stuff. I also have a standard routine to practice arpeggios. I also like to practice a lot of rasqueados, which helps build speed and strength in the fingers, but it’s not so great for the nails, most of the time I tape up my nails so that they don’t get shredded when I practice. The most important thing with the program that I’m playing right now is building stamina. I really push my fingers until I feel them burn a bit in order to build the stamina I need to get through a piece like the Rak.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Matt W: Do you also practice pieces or mostly just the technical aspects of your playing?

Matt Palmer: I do practice pieces but not as much as the other stuff. Of course, if I’m working out a new piece then I have to put more time into it because I haven’t really developed that solid muscle-memory that can carry me through a concert. If I’ve been playing a piece for two years I’m not going to forget it onstage, even with the extra distractions that come from playing in public. If I’ve got that muscle memory worked out, and my chops are in good shape, I can just focus on the music and not worry about losing the form or anything like that.

Matt W: You’re finishing up your Doctorate from the University of Arizona, but with this album and the concert tours you’re doing, you’ve started to make that transition from being a student to a full-time professional performer. What has that transition been like and has it been what you were expecting when you were a student?

Matt Palmer: Well, let’s see. [Laughs] So far it’s kind of been what I was expecting. I knew that school was kind of a shelter for a lot of musicians, and a much needed shelter. If you have a scholarship or a TA you have income that allows you to study and practice. When you get away from that you start to feel that sense of urgency to kick off your professional career.

That’s kind of what pushed me into doing a record in my first year away from school, as well as getting my method book published, which will come out later this year. I started to realize that if I didn’t have these materials, which every professional has, that I wouldn’t be labeled as qualified as the next guy who’s written a method book and recorded five albums.

I have to keep in mind that I’m still coming out of the gate and that in my first year as a professional I’m not going to book forty concerts, which is also a good thing, because if I had fifty concerts on the books right out of school I probably wouldn’t have been able to record my first album. I had to learn all the software and hardware and put the time in to really make it a worthwhile project. If I had been on the road all the time I wouldn’t have been able to get that album done, so it’s been a good thing for me, to have some free time to work on these important, career building projects.

Matt W: Do you have any interest in pursuing a full-time teaching gig at this point in your career?

Matt Palmer: I do like to teach, I love to teach, but at the moment I don’t want to jump right in to a university system and do that. I’ve really had this desire to perform and make recordings, not to say you can’t do that and teach at a university, but it would be more difficult for me to kick off a performing career with a day job.

Having said that, if a position opened up that I really liked of course I would take it, but it’s not something that I’m pursuing at the moment. Plus, I still have to finish my Doctorate, so I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment. [Laughs]

Click here to view the embedded video.