The April 12, 2005 master class at Yale University was a rare opportunity to hear one of the world's finest classical guitar performers in teaching mode. John Williams was in the area on a concert tour and accepted the invitation to spend the day between concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford, Connecticut tutoring some fine local players. Williams has done very few master classes in America, and this was his first in New England in recent memory. The event was coordinated by the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society and Ben Verdery, chair of guitar at Yale University.

In his opening remarks, Williams told the audience that he would probably not give much advice about technical matters but would rather spend the time speaking about interpretation and other musical aspects of the performances. As it turned out, the caliber of the players selected to perform at the class was generally so high, that little technical advice was needed.

The first player, Christopher Ladd, chose to play Gothica: Book of Spooks and Spectres by contemporary Australian composer Phillip Houghton, a composer whose other pieces Williams has himself recorded. The work is a series of very pleasing if brief character pieces that Ladd rendered confidently and expressively. Williams seemed to be enjoying what he was hearing and when Ladd stopped after playing the first few movements, Williams, following along with the score, asked him to play a few more. Ultimately, Ladd played the entire piece.

Williams stepped onto the stage and took a seat next to Ladd, He started by telling the audience and Ladd that in some ways, Houghton's music is "a performer's nightmare" because he puts so many expression marks and other directions in his scores. "There are so many instructions that Houghton leaves little room for the performer to try his own ideas." Williams then stated that with so much information given by the composer about the how the piece should go, the player should honor the composer's intentions and try to perform the piece as indicated. Williams told Ladd that he had a tendency to accent certain notes and break or roll double-stops where such indications were not given by the composer. "Houghton has told you in the score where he wants those effects," Williams said. Overall, Williams was positive about Ladd's performance.

The next player, Brett Parnell, a Yale student, chose to play his own transcription of the Cello Sonata of György Ligeti, another living composer. The piece's two movements, marked "Dialogo" and "Capriccio," had many modern features and Parnell capably handled both the transcription of the music from the cello original to the guitar and the execution of the performance. After Parnell finished, Williams's first comment was, "You've bitten off a tough chunk in taking on a piece like this. I'd really need quite a long time to see the score and know what you've done. One reservation I had-and this is without looking at the original sore-is that in the second part, I couldn't feel the rhythm of the accompaniment. I don't know if that is because of the fingerings you've chosen or that this is just too difficult to play. Perhaps there are ways you could simplify it."

Williams took Ladd's guitar to demonstrate a possible solution for a place where Parnell played a variety of tremolo to imitate the effect of quick tremolo bowings in the cello original. Williams suggested a rasgueado strumming technique he has used for groupings of three chords. "I first do a down stroke and then two backward strokes," said Williams. "It enables me to really bring out the rhythm and bring out the proper accents." Williams then gave some general advice on making guitar transcriptions of music played by bowed instruments. "In the slow movement, you might pretend that you have a bow," said Williams. "I would tend to play along one string for the single-note melodies and connect things, try to make the passages as legato as a cello can." The lesson those listening could take away from Williams's insights is the care Williams showed that he takes when making a transcription to preserve the musical thoughts of the composer. "In contemporary music where the composer selected the cello rather than a guitar, you should be very careful out of respect for the composer that you reproduce what he intended as much as possible. And then pray that if he ever hears it, that he likes it."

Next, a guitar quartet featuring Scott Borg, Zacharay Johnson, Jeremy Harting, and Theresa Calpotura, performed the first movement Allegro of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. As the members of the quartet was setting up their music stands, Williams complimented them for bringing small folding music stands rather than using the tall orchestral stands on the stage. "Guitarists should always use a music stand that permits the audience to see the hands," he said. "It's very important for the audience to be able to see the hands moving."

The quartet played the piece with attention to bringing out the dialog in Bach's contrapuntal style and demonstrated an understanding of orchestration and Baroque performance practice through their use terraced dynamics, tonal color, and ornamentation. Perhaps a bit of nervous energy contributed to some passages being played with uneven rhythm.

Williams began his critique by asking the audience for their observations. Some felt the quartet played the piece too fast, others liked the tempo. Williams agreed with one audience member who felt that the overall effect was that the piece was a little muddy. He then asked the players about ways they communicate during a performance by glancing toward the leader. "I always have to remind myself not to bury my head in the music," said Williams. "If I do and then take my eyes off the page to look around to acknowledge what someone is doing, I lose my place. I saw a large ensemble the other night, and they were looking around smiling and laughing to each other as if to say, 'aren't we having fun.' It made me think that I never want to be caught smiling onstage again. It came across as if they were feeling very pleased with themselves and that was embarrassing to me."

Regarding the performance, Williams stressed the importance of keeping the tempo in Bach's fast movements absolutely solid. "You should play this as you would a rock piece," Williams said. "All of the parts have to be really in the groove. I feel that you raced and the tempo might have been too fast." Williams then asked to hear the bass line and the realization of the continuo or accompaniment part (guitars three and four) in an effort to determine why some sections sounded muddy. Referring to the score, he pointed out that the realization of the harmony was not made by Bach but by someone else and that person's ideas had been incorporated in the guitar arrangement.

This touched on a theme that came up frequently throughout the master class. Williams stressed that guitarists playing transcriptions and arrangements must carefully check the arrangement against the composer's original. Some ensemble problems will be avoided by really understanding the ideas of the composer rather than those of whoever makes an arrangement. Williams then asked the group to play the movement again in its entirety. The second time, the group, appearing more composed, brought greater control and clarity to the piece.

Matthew Rohde took the stage next to play Wainscott Pond, a contemporary work by the late Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu that was dedicated to Williams. Rohde rendered the piece capably. Williams, who has played a lot of Takemitsu and recorded an entire CD of his music, shared insights about the composer. "Takemitsu was a romantic despite the modern sound of his harmonies," said Williams. "He was always very sure of what he wanted in terms volume and tonal shading. He played the guitar himself and experimented with its sounds. When he calls for a G-sharp harmonic and marks that it should be fretted on the third string and struck with the right hand, he knew exactly what sound that would produce. Playing the same note as a natural harmonic at the ninth fret of the sixth string produces a completely different sound. One reason is that it is an artificial harmonic on the third string and therefore in equal temperament. Played in the other location, the natural harmonic is in mean temperament. So both the pitch and the timbre are slightly different."

Williams encouraged Rohde to dig into the guitar a little more to create a more dynamic performance. Williams asked him to play just the first line over again. Pleased with the phrasing and dynamics in Rohde's reprise, Williams asked jokingly, "Now, why didn't you play it that way the first time?" Williams pointed out that there was a chord sequence in that line that Takemitsu used often in other works, including in his orchestral pieces. Building a crescendo with the rising chords and then getting softer as the phrase resolves to a final rolled chord was a hallmark of Takemitsu's style and is key to playing the composer's music authoritatively. This type of insight that Williams shared with all of the performers revealed the depth of thought he engages in when formulating interpretations of his repertoire. Time and again, Williams stressed that guitarists should not pass by any notes lightly, but always understand their function in the piece as a whole and seek to express the composer's ideas.

Next up was Grigory Goryachev, who, by electing to perform the monumental Chaconne from Bach's Violin Sonata in D minor, would receive perhaps the most valuable advice of the day. In the program Williams was presenting on the tour that brought him to the US this time, he was playing the Chaconne nightly, so his thoughts on the piece were copious and clear. Goryachev, an extremely accomplished and confident player, closed his eyes and played the 14-minute piece with flair and bravado. After he finished and received vigorous applause from the crowd, Williams let a long silence pass before making any comment.

Once again, he presented his thoughts on guitar arrangements. Goryachev played from the Segovia transcription, which has many added bass notes and filled-out chords not found in the solo violin version. "The best thing I can tell anyone wanting to play this piece," said Williams, "is to go back to the violin original." He continued, stating that it was 19th-century musical ideas that informed Segovia's arrangement and that not enough attention had been paid to Bach's original intent. "Bach is all about implication," said Williams. "There was no need to add chords under the melody notes that are restruck in opening theme as Segovia did there and elsewhere. To me, it's a bit jarring. Obviously Bach could have written the chord again if he'd wanted it-it's the same chord. But it is totally unnecessary and distorts the melodic line."

Taking Goryachev's guitar, Williams demonstrated the basic chord progression that underlies the Chaconne and reminded everyone that when reduced the basics, it is a progression used for centuries in Spanish folk dances and flamenco music. "Bach was not unaware of the Spanish origins of this dance," Williams said. "He used it throughout." Williams complimented Goryachev on his fleet-fingered scale work in the piece but offered a caveat. "Your scales were very fast," he said, "but you have to remember one important thing. These are variations, not scales as such, not showpieces. Yes, they should be exciting, but you need to give them some shape with slurs." Williams demonstrated his approach and then discussed the added bass notes in the Segovia version. " Once again, forget the guitar arrangements and go to the fiddle music," he said. "Work up from there. If you are sure that you understand the harmonies, add a little bit if you want to."

The final performance of the day featured duo work by guitarist Scott Hill and Carlos Boltes (a native of Chile) who played viola and charango. The first piece they played was based on a Chilean song on which Boltes played charango. For their second selection, Hill and Boltes played a modern classical piece El Gran Mambo for guitar and viola. Williams was obviously pleased-especially with the first selection. He has long had an affinity for South American music. Williams offered no criticism, but enthusiastically shared anecdotes about his work with the Chilean group Inti-Illimani.

Williams closed out the session by taking questions from the audience. He shared personal information about his beginnings with the guitar and how his parents encouraged but never pushed him to become a virtuoso. "They placed more emphasis on my becoming a well-rounded person," he said. He recalled fondly the lessons with his father Len Williams, a skilled guitarist whom Williams credits as being his most important teacher.

The audience left the hall with a greater understanding of the effort Williams undertakes as he learns music. Yes, the man has an immense natural talent for the guitar, but it became very clear that natural ability is only part of what makes him such a great artist. He taught that day that practice, study, and immersion in the culture of the composer of the one's repertoire are essential to giving an authoritative performance.