DEGRASSI BRINGS TOGETHER GUITAR NIGHT
A new affiliate of the Mendocino College Foundation has been waiting quietly in the wings to make itself known. On Saturday, April 27, Grammynominated guitarist and Mendocino College guitar instructor Alex de Grassi is presenting a “Guitar Night” fundraiser for the Friends of the Mendocino College Music Program.
The event will feature solo performances by de Grassi and additional performances by Mendocino College Professor of Music, Ukiah Symphony conductor and guitarist Phillip Lenberg, and longtime Ukiah music instructor and performer John Mattern, along with several of de Grassi's senior guitar students. The performers will be playing solo, duo and ensemble pieces- a selection of de Grassi's originals alongside interpretations of some very well-known songs.
“Last year, we had a wonderful free concert featuring the students from Cal Poly Humboldt's Mariachi group. Their instructor, Jennifer Trowbridge teaches classical guitar at Humboldt, as well as apprenticing with Gregory Byers- our local, master guitar maker who lives in Willits. Of course, we didn't raise any funds from a free concert, but it underscored the need to share this affiliate with the community and let people know what it's about,” says de Grassi.
For the past four years, de Grassi has been teaching all levels of guitar at Mendocino College's Ukiah Campus.
“I started teaching during Covid. Rodney Grissanti contacted me and asked if I knew anyone who could teach. All my gigs had been cancelled, so it seemed like a great opportunity,” de Grassi continues. The course started out as a single class offered in four categories from beginner to advanced, based on the college's tw0-year transfer model.
“After the first year, I was asked if I could continue. I felt it would be more beneficial to the students to break it into two classes- absolute beginners and folks that could play. That's what we have now, and Phillip has graciously offered to take over the beginning class next year.”
“Alex is making me blow the dust off my guitar,” Lenberg laughs. Along with his credentials as a conductor, Lenberg pursued his bachelor's degree at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, where he studied classical guitar and composition. Between the two musicians, the future of the guitar program at the college is sounding very bright.
“In our beginning class, we see a little bit of everything-young people, seniors who played a little and are restarting guitar from the beginning, guitar- curious folks- and a certain number of those students end up dropping out. The advanced class is a very low-attrition class. The composition isn't so much young people. This semester we have mostly people in their 30's and upwards, like retired folks
who now have the time to practice. We also have students who are professional, gigging musicians, including Bob Daly and Jon Tyson,” de Grassi continues.
“These days, you can go on YouTube and see a million different ways to teach guitar. I don't teach any of those systems,” says de Grassi. Though it took him a few years to embrace the importance of learning how to read music, de Grassi emphasizes reading in his courses.
“With guitar, people often learn how to play chords first, which makes the guitar extremely accessible,” he notes.
“But then, people have a hard time getting used to the idea of where the notes are,” says Lenberg. “They don't learn to associate the notes with musical notation. Plus, there's a tradition of tablature with fretted musical instruments, which is another reason guitarists don't learn to read.”
“I post a graphic- a drawing of the fingerboard that shows the strings, what pitches they are, all the notes, and a line of music that shows you the correlation of a note and where it is on the staff,” says de Grassi.
“It's really interesting to come into the classes and see the variety of experiences the students bringto see how differently people approach reading music,” says Lenberg. He also teaches a Fundamentals of Music class, which he believes can help beginning guitarists get a handle on the rudiments of music literacy and theory.
“There's an old joke,” says Lenberg. “If you want to get a guitarist to turn their amp down, put a piece of sheet music in front of him,” he smiles.
“There are so many great guitar players who don't read music or are selftaught,” says de Grassi. “My approach is to see where students are coming from and make the class relevant to where they are. I use simple chords and simple melody lines as they're learning to read. I didn't look at any music when I was learning to play guitar. I picked up sheet music later, and ultimately ended up spending 3- 4 hours per day playing and reading classical guitar.”
“The guitar can be challenging to read. You can play the same note in 6 different places, so it's different from a keyboard,” says Lenberg.
“I'm a little bit of a taskmaster about fingering. With any instrument you play, I think it's about efficiency and economy of motion. That's universal in terms of playing any instrument,” says de Grassi.
It's this type of masterclass pedagogy that students of de Grassi and Lenberg receive at the college. The duo is still putting the finishing touches on the program for the concert.
“We're going to do my arrangement of Bob Marley's Jammin' with Phillip on the electric bass. We'll be doubling and tripling up on the melody, backup singers, rhythm and bass parts,” says de Grassi. He and Lenberg will also be playing an arrangement of Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones.
“This is an arrangement for two guitars I created years ago,” says de Grassi. “The twist is that it's in 7/8 time- a kind of Balkan rhythm, which is really fun.”
“We're going to play a simple arrangement of John Denver's Country Roads with student vocalists, and are hoping to play another more involved arrangement for four guitars. It's sort of a variation on a theme of the Shady Grove folksong,” says de Grassi.
“It's a really fun arrangement,” says Lenberg. “I've had the parts going around in my head over and over,” he smiles. “It's going to be a challenge for our students, so we'll see what happens.”
There will also be student performances and a longer set of solo works by de Grassi.
“We're hoping this concerts helps to shine a light on this non-profit affiliate,” he notes. The goal of the affiliate is to create additional opportunities for college music students to learn and participate in musical events.
“I'm on the board of the Ukiah Concert Series and Phillip, of course, is part of the Ukiah Symphony. Both of us have seen the impact on students when our performers come out and do community outreach- whether at public schools, the City of 10,000 Buddhas or SPACE. We want to bring that kind of energy to the college music department,” de Grassi continues.
Funds raised for the program can be used to bring guest musicians and lecturers into classes to share their expertise and expose students to a wider variety of musical experiences, to provide musical equipment and resources, and to create extra- curricular performance opportunities for students. The affiliate's board is comprised of faculty members, working musicians like John Mattern and members of the community with experience in music education.
“Julie McGovern, who is head of the College Foundation will say a few words about the Affiliate and the Foundation at the concert,” says de Grassi. When you support either entity, you're supporting our students and the music program.”
“Our other hope is to fund more opportunities for students to get together and play in public- just like the mariachi students from Cal Poly,” de Grassi concludes.
The performance is at the Mendocino College Little Theater — not the Center Theater- and begins at 7 PM. Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6270196, at the Mendocino Book Company and Mazahar in Willits. Tickets at the door will are cash or check only. All proceeds from the event will go to the Friends of the Mendocino College Music Program.