Members at the 2000 SCGS Holiday Concert were treated to the astonishing sight and sound of a 140-string guitar orchestra playing a medley of seasonal music. Under Mark Wilson's direction, 40 people participated in three rehearsals to put together a performance for the event. It was a lot of fun and an amazing experiment in the sound that the classical guitar can create.

Encouraged by the warm reception at that concert, last summer Mark Wilson conducted a Guitar Orchestra Workshop in which 20 people learned a piece Wilson wrote called Haji and the Jinn. "I was trying to create a work for the students to play that introduced aspects of music that are often problematic or not well understood. For instance, I was careful to keep in mind the various levels that I would be working with. How do you create a work that is accessible to someone who can play in the upper positions and someone who is just getting acquainted with first position? How do you get the players to work on their rhythm?" He addressed the issues of the different playing abilities by creating four parts: some of the parts were written for someone who could play relatively comfortably all over the neck, while other parts relied heavily on open strings a lot, yet had a driving rhythmic sense. "Rhythm," Wilson emphasized, "is always the first and foremost concern I have in my works."

The guitar orchestra, affectionately referred to as the "Guitarchestra", performed Haji and the Jinn at a summer SCGS Member's Concert in 2001. "It was really neat to see some of the members of the Guitar Orchestra cross over the line from being individuals performing solos, as Jeff Hansen and Patrick Donnelly did, or pairs playing duos as Grad Lancaster and his teacher did, to becoming part of the whole orchestra. Listening to one and two people play the guitar and then to 20 people was quite an experience-very beautiful,". Wilson said.

"We are so fortunate to have this opportunity," said Lorraine Day, a beginning player who participated in the Workshop and Members' Concert performance. "Where else could a beginning student have such a friendly introduction to ensemble playing? Mark's piece was perfect -- not technically difficult but very interesting dynamically and quite challenging rhythmically -- challenging enough to keep the interest of the better players. For many of us, this was the first time we experienced the 'shock' of ensemble playing. I mean, if you are playing alone and flub it, you can assume an attitude of improvisation and get away with a certain amount of error. But when you're in a group and you are erring all alone -- well, you learn to pay attention and count, let me tell you."

Several of the students have enjoyed the work so much that they have continued to play together on weekends and plan an 'open mic" performance at local venues. And to cap off an already very positive experience, the Guitar Orchestra was invited to perform at Benaroya Hall's Day of Music festival on September 17, 2000, at the Seattle Art Museum's Plestcheeff Auditorium.

Wilson will be offering another workshop for the Guitar Orchestra from February 2 to March 30 2002. It will culminate with a performance at the SCGS Holiday Concert. The orchestra will play a symphony composed by Johann David Heinichen and transcribed by Wilson, a piece that Wilson wrote illustrating the C major scale in all of its positions, and some simple arrangements of holiday melodies. Because last year's Holiday Orchestra was so much fun, Wilson will open up this last segment of this season's concert to any interested person who would like to join in. The holiday melody arrangements will be made available to non-Workshop performers for a small fee to cover production costs. Wilson hopes to top last year's record of 240 strings!

Guitarists interested in either the Guitar Orchestra Workshop or in the non-Workshop Holiday Melodies play-along can contact Wilson at The Rosewood Guitar -- (206) 297-8788.

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