Jillian Maisie Oppedisano
All parents think their kids are talented.
I don’t know if my kid is truly talented.
I do think she really loves music.
photos by Kimberly Fiedelman-Oppedisano
And if she seriously considers taking up guitar, I’ll encourage her to sing too….
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki
All-time favorite electric guitar tracks
In an interview last year with Contemporary Guitars Blog, I was asked to name 5 Desert Island albums. Now, I’ve never been one to get too carried away with making “top 5 lists,” but thought what if I were to do one for electric guitar tracks that continue to have a profound effect on me years after having heard them the first time. So, after some thought, I recently decided on a top 3 list. I know, it’s only 3…..Anyway, here they are:
1. Machine Gun – Jimi Hendrix (Band of Gypsys)
What else can be said about this live version of Machine Gun. Just a mindblower. If I could go back in time to see one concert, it would be this one.
2. Where Were You – Jeff Beck
I could go on and on regarding Jeff Beck. This track is pure electric guitar poetry. Simply incredible music and one of the more beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
3. Watermelon in Easter Hay – Frank Zappa
FZ was very underrated as a guitarist. This is gorgeous music and it’s in a slow 9/4! (or 4/4 + 5/4 – however you prefer) – a testament to Zappa’s brilliant musical mind.. And it’s not even from my favorite Zappa period. I’m more of an early Mothers person (see my 5 Desert Island albums).
As with these types of lists, it’s always tough leaving stuff out. Here a list of a few Honorable Mentions (I may continue to edit this..)
The Final Peace – Jeff Beck
Power to Love – Jimi Hendrix
Pink Cashmere – Prince
Black Napkins – Frank Zappa
Some electric guitar memories, feedback and a new piece
I’ve always had a fascination for electric guitar feedback. My first experiences go back to when I was around 13 –14 years old. After practicing intensely for many hours (all I did was practice from the ages of 12-17) and dealing with sore fingertips and feelings of frustration, I would turn the amp up as loud as possible allowing the guitar to howl and scream. Then I discovered that I could manipulate the feedback by walking around the room and swirling the guitar around in the air. I also discovered that at certain spots in the room the feedback was very consistent and could get that long sustain to add to those certain held notes.
On quite a few occasions, I’d turn up the amp as loud as possible, lean the guitar facing the amp and just walk away for a few minutes. I made sure the windows were open too. Ah, the memories….
With the combination of my frustration with the instrument and a good dose of teenage angst and rebelliousness, I found myself wanting to be a masterful technician and also a novice. I practiced like I wanted to be a guitar hero, but deep down did not want to be one.
To this day after almost 28 years playing guitar, I still have a love/hate relationship with the damn thing.
My first real electric guitar memory was as a kid in Brooklyn before I started playing guitar. There was a guitarist in the neighborhood that lived across the street from me near the elevated train. He used to play so loud that you could hear him from blocks away (kind of like Tommy Chong’s ridiculously funny guitar solo in Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie, although not nearly as comedic). I loved that sound and it made such a deep impression on me. That was a definite highlight from those Brooklyn summers as a kid. When I was 15, I played my first gig by jamming with him in a concert in the park across the street from where I lived. That was a big thrill.
So, to make a long story short, (you can read more about my musical journey in an earlier blog post ) back in 2003 I thought about creating an electroacoustic piece derived mostly from electric guitar feedback. The result was a piece called Steel Sky (2003). The sounds in this work all come from electric guitar.
"Fractured Sky," painting by Richard Whadcock
And here’s a link to my brand new piece utilizing electric guitar feedback, Fractured Sky (2012). The sounds in this piece come mostly from electric guitar with the addition of a few percussion samples. The painting above is by the British artist Richard Whadcock. Click the photo to check out his wonderful artwork.
Both recording sessions for these pieces involved recording electric guitar feedback at a very loud volume. For me these compositions are not only about the finished result, but about the process. A reliving of those youthful electric guitar feedback experiments and sculpting them into compositions. It’s the stuff that keeps me drawn to the electric guitar and makes me want to keep playing and wrenching sounds out of it.
Hope you like these pieces. I still have some feedback experimenting left to do..
The human voice with electric guitars..
I have some experience composing for voice having written and conducted (yes, you read right..conducted) two a cappella pieces – one for sextet (S, MS, A, T, BAR, B) and a piece for three sopranos. I also wrote a piece for soprano and string quartet a while back that I’ve never heard performed. I have been tempted to realize that piece, but it’s just not a priority now…I am still curious though.
The aforementioned compositions date back to late 1998 and 2002 and are quite different from my electroacoustic music since 2006.
So, I’m a big fan of voice in all contexts and I still enjoy listening to music that features voice. The first musical sounds I can distinctly remember are those of my father singing with an acoustic guitar.
Interestingly enough, with all my classical education, I’ve never been a big fan of classical opera. I can get into some Mozart and that’s about it.
Anyway, an important moment for me creatively was when I first introduced voice in my electroacoustic music. My composition, Karmicom (2005) is a sort of virtual duet of multitracked electric guitars with the voice of my wife, Kimberly Fiedelman. It is also the only piece where you can briefly hear my speaking voice at the very end and the only piece on my debut compilation, Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar, that includes another instrument outside of electric guitar and electric bass.
Listening back, I feel Karmicom was one of my more imaginative/unusual/humorous pieces. It stands out from my other work in that regard. Brief heavy guitar riffs with serene voices and mock opera bits. Prepared and bowed guitars mixed in with some heavy metal choke harmonics, etc., etc…And there is one section that consists of only multitracked voices. Looking at this piece objectively, I realize it is somewhat schizophrenic, but it represents a slightly different time and it still works for me.
I’ve known people who love this piece and some just don’t get it.. Of course, the audience for this type of music is relatively small, so most people are not going to get it as music alone. Anyway, this is a topic for another day.. I remember how one reviewer wrote how the piece started off great and then became just awful….:) The website with that review no longer exists.
Karmicom is an anagram for____________________. Only two people have ever figured it out (without me even asking too..)
Another piece I would like to talk about is the four movement, Renewal (can be heard on The Ominous Corner). This piece was composed in 2006 and features voice (once again, by my wife Kim). By this time I was working with sounds outside of guitar, so the sonic palette is larger..
Voice occurs throughout the whole piece. Renewal I (Introduction) opens with voice. The primary movements that feature voice would be Renewal II (Interlude) and Renewal IV (Finale). The text for mvt. II comes from two specific sources: a text written by me and random lines plucked from the horoscope section of a daily NYC newspaper (either the Daily News or The Post). In mvt. II, I was trying to depict the “chatterbox” state of the human mind with brief moments of clarity in texture and meaning. I cut up the various text and created new phrases by combining phrases from the two different sources – a kind of deconstruction. Mvt. IV consists of vocal themes already heard and presents them in a more joyful, playful, frenetic and sometimes contemplative light.
This movement is followed by a movement with some of my more lyrical electric guitar playing, Renewal III – “Let’s start again…”:
To hear all of Renewal (recommended) go here:
Here’s a video that features excerpts of the piece from a performance in 2006:
Other pieces of mine that feature female voice (all Kim) are Solitary Pathways (a kind of a distant relative to Karmicom), The Ominous Corner and Mechanical Uprising. Check them out.
Primo Volo for solo classical guitar and Urban Mosaic for solo electric guitar (other guitar music)
I have composed a variety of music for guitar. A few solo and duo classical guitar pieces, a couple of quartets, an electric guitar concerto with percussion ensemble and some mixed ensemble works. This doesn’t count concert music without guitar – mostly student stuff – a few a cappella pieces, solo piano music, solo clarinet, string quartet, etc..
Since 2006, I’ve composed only electroacoustic music using guitars in various contexts.
I’ll talk a little about 2 solo guitar pieces composed around the same time: Urban Mosaic for solo electric guitar (2002) and Primo Volo (2003) for solo classical guitar. This entry will talk mostly about Primo Volo.
Why these two pieces? Well, to be quite honest, I feel they are my best work for guitars outside of my electroacoustic music. If I were like some old masters, I’d destroy some of my older scores (nowadays it would involve more deleting), but I don’t take myself THAT seriously and I’d probably end up feeling badly about it..
My composition, Primo Volo (Italian for “First Flight”) was composed for the New York City based guitarist Oren Fader and released on an album of compositions dedicated to him called, First Flight (released in 2005). I also worked as producer and editor for the recording. To be so involved with the making of this album was a great experience. Oren is the consummate musician (an incredible sightreader especially for a guitarist) and an all around great guy.
Primo Volo was composed in one month in Spring 2003. Oren performed it many times (a composer’s dream…), so it had a nice life outside of the manuscript.
Primo Volo (p.1) - Marco Oppedisano
I must note that this piece was composed without picking up the guitar at all. Just me and Finale….I studied classical guitar in the conservatory seriously for 2 years and throughout the years, I’ve played and recorded various fingerstyle pieces, so I’m quite familiar with the style and technique.
For example: Here’s a recording of me playing It Ain’t Necessarily So by George Gershwin (arr. by Howard Morgen). (back in 2000 on a late 50’s Gibson ES 175 – amazing instrument)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25547198/01%20It%20Ain%27t%20Necessarily%20So%20%28Gershwin_Morgen%29.mp3
As a guitarist, composing without the guitar prevented me from being too heavily influenced by certain habits or idiosyncracies. I wanted the music to come more from my mind and ears and less from my hands. I highly suggest this method for any composer who is composing music for their own instrument and wants to try something different.
Primo Volo is a difficult work and I have never attempted to perform it, nor will I ever. Whenever I’ve composed a guitar piece for someone else, I’ve never thought of performing it myself. There’s a particular amount of satisfaction watching someone else play your music well – besides the relief of having someone else do the hard work….
I’ll avoid discussing the particulars of this work in depth. To use a cliché , I’d rather let the music do the talking. A few things though: The form of the piece deals with the contrast between slow and fast. Many facets of classical guitar technique are explored with a love for both natural and artificial harmonics. It’s also quite tonal – to my ears at least.
If anyone out there is interested in the score, let me know. For anyone who is feeling charitable, it is also available online for sale here at a reasonable price (along with some other music):
And finally here’s the video/score for Primo Volo in its entirety.
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Urban Mosaic (2002) for solo electric guitar was composed for the award winning classical guitarist, Kevin R. Gallagher. The piece consists of 4 contrasting movements each focusing on a different electric guitar technique:
Mvt. 1 – “behind the nut”
Mvt . 2 – E-bow
Mvt. 3 – rock guitar solo
Mvt. 4 – fingerstyle ballad
Clocking in at a little over 14 minutes, Urban Mosaic is a demanding work. Gallagher is a highly versatile guitarist and masterful interpreter, so I had the freedom to compose a challenging piece for him. There are very few guitarists who possess the ability to perform on both the electric and classical guitar with the skill he can.
Also, the score is available for sale online here…
Here is a video score of the piece. Thanks for listening…
Hans Reichel
On November 22, 2011, Hans Reichel passed away at the age of 62 – a master guitarist, improviser and instrument inventor. Thanks to my friend Chris Shaffer for turning me on to him a few years back.
I don’t listen to nearly as much guitar music anymore, but Reichel was one of those guitarists I never tired hearing. A big influence on me although not always obvious in my music. He’ll be missed.
Suggested Hans Reichel listening:
Lower Lurum (features his wonderful daxophone)
Early stuff:
From a performance a few years back:
State of The Axe: Guitar Masters in Photographs and Words by Ralph Gibson
I had the great honor of being included in a photography book of guitarists in 2008 by the renowned photographer, Ralph Gibson. The book, State of the Axe: Guitar Masters in Photographs and Words (Museum Fine Arts Houston, October 28, 2008, preface by Les Paul) includes such luminaries as Bill Frisell, Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Andy Summers, John Scofield, Pat Martino, Jim Hall and many others.
photo by Ralph Gibson (Marco Oppedisano)
A little bit about me and my music..
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I thought it was good time to start a blog. So, welcome! I’ll be posting here from time to time.It also happens to be my 40th birthday.
For those of you who do not know me: I am a guitarist and composer from Brooklyn, NY. I presently live in the Sunnyside section of Queens, NY with my wife and daughter.
I began playing guitar at the age of 12. My father played and sang a little. so there was always a guitar in the house. My formative years were spent learning rock and metal. To make a long story very short (for now), I then went on to study music seriously, studied classical guitar for 2 years and ultimately got a BM in Music Composition from Brooklyn College/CUNY and an MA in Music Composition from Queens College/CUNY. I’ve studied composition with Noah Creshevsky, Charles Dodge, Tania Leon, George Brunner, Thea Musgrave, and Henry Weinberg.
Since 1999, my compositional focus has dealt with the use of electric guitar in the genre of electroacoustic music.
My earlier electroacoustic stuff exclusively with guitars – music from 1999-2005 – focused on musique concrète works using the guitar more as a sound source. I wasn’t as concerned with playing the electric guitar conventionally as I was trying to coax different sound sounds out of it. This period culminated in a compilation released in June 2007, called Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar. One track on this album includes the use of female voice, Karmicom (courtesy of my wife, Kimberly Fiedelman).
After this release, I started composing music with other sounds in addition to electric guitar. I was thinking a bigger, more varied, denser, noisier, colorful, orchestral type of sound. Also, in addition to musique concrète works, I started writing music for “live” guitar and fixed playback. The Ominous Corner was released in September 2008. Pieces like Cityscape, The Ominous Corner and Renewal are examples of compositions with electric guitar and recorded playback. These compositions contain sounds ranging from processed simple waveforms, virtual instruments, female voice (my wife, Kim), samples, electric guitar and electric bass.
Here is video of a live performance of a piece for electric guitar and playback. Skimming the Surface (2007) is not available on any of my albums.
In June 2008, I also had the great pleasure of collaborating on an album with David Lee Myers (aka. Arcane Device) called Tesla at Coney Island.
My last album, Mechanical Uprising was released in July 2010. This album also consists of pieces not meant for live performance. Different from my previous music, the album opener Kickstart (for those of you who still care about track placement) includes my first piece with drum samples. After playing in rock bands in my youth, I found it funny that I would wait this long to use real drum sounds. I’ve called Kickstart a piece for “electroacoustic musique concrète virtual avant-rock band.” And speaking of firsts, Nocturne (the album closer) is my first solo electroacoustic work to use nylon string guitar. Whereas The Ominous Corner was more of a departure from my debut compilation with the inclusion of a “live” electric guitar part, expanded sonic pallette and bigger sound, Mechanical Uprising to me, is a culmination of my electroacoustic music with electric guitars written up to this point. Lately, I’ve spent some time wondering what else I would like to do in this genre.
Earlier this year, I did compose a track for the very cool $100 Guitar Project (an excerpt of my piece Red Cent can be heard here). It will be part of a double CD release due out sometime next year.
I’ve included my links to Bandcamp because my albums can be heard in their entirety there (with a few free downloads), but my music is available through all the usual online digital stores (iTunes, Amazon, Emusic, etc.). Actual CDs can be purchased through CD Baby:
Marco Oppedisano and Marco Oppedisano & David Lee Myers
As for a new solo album, I have started some work on it, but am thinking a different direction. Not sure what that direction will be yet, but when I find out, you all will be the first to know.
