“As a female guitarist, I find myself in a bit of a “catch-22,” so to speak. On one hand, because I am a woman, I feel that I should (and I want to) play music written by female composers. On the other hand, I know that if I program music by female composers, it will immediately be noticed that I am playing music by women. The act of including music by women is automatically seen as “feminist,” and there is an unfortunate assumption that I (as a woman) would not be playing the music if it were not composed by a woman. The trouble is, I also know that the majority of male classical guitarists will not seek out this music as it has not yet made its way into the mainstream of classical repertoire.”

                                         Emily Alice Shaw  emilyshawguitar.ca

I have written briefly about some women I know who make guitars and in another post I provide a link to a list of women who play the classical guitar. Today is the day to catch up on women who compose or have composed for the guitar. I don’t know much about composers so Emily will be our guide. Here is the article quoted above. In 4 preceding articles she discovers for us some great female composers.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

I have always thought of the bridge patch and the bridge brace (which passes under the fan braces unlike the Bouchet bar) as being the same thing even though the patch is short, low and wide while the brace is long, not quite so low and as thin as a fan brace. In a presentation by Daniel Friederich in 1998 he seems to have the same opinion as he mentions both as ways to “consolidate and stabilize” the arch of the guitar. http://www.orfeomagazine.fr/documents/Soundboards_DF.pdf The other advantage I see is that it makes glueing the bridge on much more reliable when using traditional methods. Not to mention avoiding cracks at the bridge ends. 

Ever since I have used these elements in my guitars I have wondered who was the first maker to do so. The oldest bridge patch I had ever seen was on a Hauser and again Friederich in the same article says, “Used first by Hermann Hauser I in the first half of this century (around 1930)” The funny thing is that in talking about asymmetry in the same article he shows a drawing of asymmetrical bracing on a guitar (c. 1850) made by Mirecourt-trained A. A. Chevrier  (later of Brussels) which shows a bridge patch. The information comes from Dominique Field.

I am eagerly awaiting news of the guitar festival and the guitar-building competition this year but in the meantime I will just have to be happy with the following. This is the 70th edition of the music and dance festival and it is one of the most prestigious in Spain. The guitar has found its place once again in this festival thanks to the last two or three directors.

To be successful in this business you need to do great work and you need to stick to it. Nobody becomes an overnight success. I came to Granada 31 years ago and only now do I have the sort of recognition that will keep the orders coming in. I want to congratulate three women who are doing great work and have stuck to it. There are other women working in this field but I have spent time with each of these three and can say that I am glad to know them and grateful for their contributions to the guitar. In the article about Yunah they mention three woman guitar-makers, I think they must be talking about Ana and Susana but I am not sure who the third might be.

Yunah Park

Ana Espinosa

Susana Martín

Susana is seen here with my teacher the late José Ángel Chacón Tenllado, we both met him in the early 90’s and learned much from him.

Guitar-maker Henner Hagenlocher is offering a 4-week summer course this year in the Black Forest region of Germany. See the facebook post here.