For the last of our guest master classes this year at Oberlin Conservatory, State University of New York, Fredonia Guitar Professor, James Piorkowski, joined us last week. He was on campus for the performance of his gorgeous work for choir and guitar "The Greatest of These", which I played with our Concert Choir, along with several other works (see post about the concert here). I've known Jim for many years and have long regarded him as one of America's finest teachers of the instrument. He has a soft touch with the students and is always both encouraging and inspiring.

Here, he teaches Collin Sterne, who played for him the Tiento of Maurice Ohana:

Next, Craig Slagh played a Sonata of Scarlatti:

Jim had sent beforehand a list of ideas for practicing he refers to as his toolkit. He spent a little time going through the ideas in a discussion that was extremely helpful for the students. We can never get enough input and encouragement in the arena of practicing and the art of learning music. Jim's ideas were excellent.