The TAP classical guitar program is an intensive one week camp for young guitarists of all levels comprising private lessons, seminars and faculty and guest performances. The comprehensive curriculum provides for daily instruction in the areas of technique, fretboard harmony, repertoire, musicianship and positive practice and performance habits. The ultimate goal is to help students become confident competent performers. Towards that end, all students will have an opportunity to perform in the student showcase at the end of camp.
Seminars
Technique
Begin with fundamental right and left hand usage and progress to more advanced techniques including rasqueado, tremolo, long scales, slur and reach development exercises. Particular emphasis is placed on practical examples found in the guitar literature as well as advice on how to create your own exercises based on the particular music you are studying.
Fretboard Harmony
Understand the complexity of the guitar fret board and become a more fluent reader. Beginning exercises focus on note and interval identification and progress to applied harmony and chord voicing.
Repertoire
Get to know the core repertoire of the guitar from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and learn a few of the latest compositions being written for the guitar today. Etudes, concert works and chamber music will all be discussed.
Musicianship
Explore the craft of music making and develop your own expression by understanding how music theory and conventions of style inform the decisions we make as artists. Students are encouraged to share examples of the music they are working on.
Positive Practice and Performance Habits
Learn how to practice most efficiently and effectively in order to perform with confidence the way professional musicians do.
Faculty
Dr. Kostelnik (Head of Classical Guitar Program)
Praised by Soundboard magazine for his lyrical playing and remarkable counterpoint, Steve Kostelnik has been a concert artist and teacher for more than 20 years. He has won top honors at several important competitions including the Naxos Prize at the Guitar Foundation of America International Guitar Competition, First Prize at the Music Teachers National Association Wurlitzer Collegiate Artist Competition, and First Prize at the Southwest Festival Guitar Competition. His highly acclaimed debut recording Steve Kostelnik Guitar Recital was released on the Naxos label in 1999.
Dr. Kostelnik is professor of guitar at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and maintains a thriving private studio in Austin, Texas. Dr. Kostelnik’s students have earned top honors in several national and international competitions and have been offered prestigious scholarships to study at institutions such as The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, The University of Southern California, and The New England School of Music.
Dr. Kostelnik earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Southwest Texas State University, and the degrees of Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied with Adam Holzman.
Dr. Matthew Hinsley (Guitar Instructor)
Dr. Hinsley’s teaching approach for young people has come to focus on several priorities: expressive musicianship from the very first notes, careful technical sequencing, and the highest standards for technical mastery at all levels.
Dr. Hinsley’s private studio has already produced some of America’s leading young talent on the classical guitar including students who win national and international competitions and perform in major venues.
Recently one of Hinsley’s young students was selected to perform on the _From The Top_ radio show for which he played in front of an audience of 1300 in Bethesda, Maryland. Hinsley is one of only two teachers worldwide who has had students three-times advance to the final round of the youth division of the prestigious _Guitar Foundation of America International Competition_, including the winner of the competition in 2006. In recent years Hinsley’s private students have advanced to the semifinal and final rounds of the American String Teachers Association National Solo String Competition, the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, the Christopher Parkening International Competition and many other regional, national and international competitions for young people.
