“Kertsopoulos Aesthetics” the how and the why – Part 1: Introduction

Everyone in his or her own way contributes to the guitar’s evolution.

Details of the high-pitched, scalloped fingerboard and movable back pedal Kertsopoulos guitar - photo: Y.Kertsopoulos

In our everyday communication we tend to associate the amateur in a field with someone who loves what he or she is doing but doesn’t get paid for it, whereas the professional in the field gets paid for their output.

In the real essence of the meanings of these words, and through our prolonged in time experiences, however, we can all realize that an amateur knows how something is-or can be done in his field of interest-but the professional knows much more than that how. Simply meaning he or she knows the answers to many whys and to many why is or why not, involved in producing the same result.

Even more, results obtained in this way by serious applied professionalism, certainly give inspiration to other people concerned so that specific directions are laid down for everybody in the field to try to do things the best way possible and not in any way possible.

Of course, there is a vast mixture of the above-mentioned quantities and qualities, and there are many professionals that have an amateur’s attitude and many amateurs that show a remarkable professionalism in the sense of the essence already described. So, we are dealing in all cases and fields with a synthetically colorful mosaic of human behavior, not easily lent to borderline analysis.

Three main stages characterize the progress of a guitarist:

Playing
Performing
Interpreting

Words that apply mainly to guitarists, but are also applicable to luthiers and string manufacturers in a parallel manner.

Playing

The initial playing stage of the guitarists is full of stirred and strong emotions accumulated to reinforce the learning of the guitar, the instrument that makes their inner world vibrate with colorful sensations. The pieces and works as such, become a second priority in regard to the first, which is: “let’s play the damn thing in any way possible”.

All guitarists pass through this stage in one way or another and are promoted from <em<listeners to players. And although they still remain listeners, by being promoted to players, they listen now to the same music in a more critical and consciously searchable way than before. An amateur defined stage.

Some stay at this playing stage forever and with obtainable experience succeed to transform the any way possible to the useful for them: the easiest way possible.

Performing

Others, progress on to the performing stage – which includes a serious study of the technique and the performance mechanisms and many detailed requirements involved in becoming one a respected performer on the instrument. Under professional teaching procedures, they learn the ways and manners of disciplined and programmatic exercising on the instrument.

Also, they learn for every case involved to upgrade the easiest way possible of the player to the very refined the best way possible and if they can perform successfully alongside the great known performers – in comparison – and also become acceptable by their audience, they become performers of the instrument.

This performing stage is a semi – professional stage having about half of the whys answered.

Both stages of playing and performing apart from the differences that separate them have as a hierarchy the same priorities. Out of necessity of course, the first priority being the guitar in its relation with the guitarist but the music being played/performed on it always remaining a second priority.

Interpreting

The interpreting stage demands that the guitarist is already a successful performer on the instrument having mastered in his or her way all the technical difficulties so that the guitar and the guitarist can easily pass on to the role of second priority.

It is evident that at this stage the first priority is given at all times to the music being interpreted. The musical style is considered, along with the theoretic structure involved in the music, additive to all other factors such as the historical time the work was composed, the instrument or voices it was initially written for, including the musical trends, habits, forms, tunings and timbres of the instruments, acoustic peculiarities of the places of performance, social conditions, etc.

Furthermore, this stage tends to promote questions of the type:

“What means do we have and also can employ today, so that our inner subjective understanding of the work interactively complies with all the outer objective requirements to eventually produce a successful interpretation?”

At the interpreting stage every possible detail should be registered, taken into account, be analyzed and eventually become synthesized in an effective manner, so that the work performed possesses as a whole the most numerous best ways possible of interpreting, justifying objectively and by all means the musical work itself.

Few guitarists (in analogy) reach this stage but it is certainly a most rewarding stage because it reveals the extra-ordinary innermost hidden beauty of the composition, both to the guitarist and to the recipient audience.

Serious professionalism according to the essence of the meaning as above described of course grows only from this stage onwards and it also provides the interested parties with the strict interpretational criteria whenever these are needed.

Also, when the inner subjective experience studies in a dialectic manner the outer objective criteria one has already entered in the field of “aesthetics” which applies also in this case.

The changing forms, tunings and number of strings along with the timbres of the guitar in its continuing historical evolution has been influenced by all three types of guitarists: players, performers and interpreters, and all types of luthiers and string manufacturers and this provides the beauty of the vast field of human interaction, prompting us to realize that all transcendental inspirations, from all levels, are – and can be transformed into musical happenings in our lives.

Everyone in her/his own way contribute to the guitar’s evolution as the instrument travels dynamically through our history waiting to be disturbed – played by each individual.

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A classical-flamenco guitar soloist, composer, professor, luthier and string constructor, the Greek – Canadian Yorgos Kertsopoulos is also a researcher, inventor, author and founder of “the Guitar’s mathematic model and Geometric progression” (DAS MUSIKINSTRUMENT, Heft 9/ Sep. 1984, in German and English “The Physics of the Guitar”- Presentation of the same at the International Music Messe-Frankfurt, College of Furniture-London and seminars to respected luthiers and guitarists of England invited by GUITAR magazine)…. his work is so unique in its scientific approach but also so full of traditional truths, it includes everything…Jose Ramirez (at the press conference given by Y.Kertsopoulos at the Music Messe in Frankfurt-1983). His work as “Kertsopoulos aesthetics” involves the constructional revival of the different forms, tunings and sound timbres the guitar possessed in its history.

…These guitars possess antique sounds, sounds with an ancient charm. Amalia Ramirez 7 Feb. 2009.

Yorgos is the author of: “Space-Time Theory Vol. A’ The Philosophy of Space-Time“