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The Classical Guitar of Richard Spross
Bio
I was born into a family of church musicians. Both parents worked
avocationally at music. My father was a fine baritone singer and he was
in demand as soloist for weddings,funerals church soloist and the
occasional back up baritone when a local church was short handed in its
choir. My mother was trained as a pianist having studied with a student
of Leschitsky, came equipped with perfect pitch was considered
something
of a child prodigy. Later in life she self mastered the organ and
served
for 23 years as organist and choir director for the Chinese Community
Methodist Church in Oakland. Thus my home life was surrounded by
serious
music making from the outset. My parents cheerfully went about their
business waiting for the day to arrive to see if I would show any
interest or talent. At about the age of 11 the TV had made its way into
American homes and ours was no exception. The Kingston trio had become
popular and my ears perked up with the lively sounds of guitars and
banjos. Boy did I want to make music like that! I had had some
disappointing first encounters with music in grade school and this
represented something I could do on my own without discouragement from
others.
One rainy day in our huge Berkeley hill home (luck had it that my
father got it as a rental for reeeallly cheap) I was bored out of my
mind and decided to investigate the hall closet. There were two
bordering a large palatial front porch and so they were very deep. I
crawled my way through all the old coats jammed in there and as I
became
enveloped in darkness, groping forward on hands and knees, I felt a
strange shaped object! It was rather small, but by golly it felt like
it might be a guitar.
I slowly extricated myself and rushed into the kitchen to ask my mother
if father had a guitar. Yes she replied. She hadn't seen it in a long
time. I inquired if he played it. Yes, again she said, quite well in
fact.
I had to wait until father came home and then we investigated together.
Sure enough there it was, but badly in need of repair! I had to keep
pestering him about fixing it to prove that I really wanted to learn
and
finally the day arrived when he reported that he had taken it to a
venerable violin repair person, a certain Mr. Prince, who had long had an
established business in Berkeley. The aging Mr. Prince was over booked
with work. In the fine tradition of luthiers he painstakingly
repaired all manner of viols, cellos, violas and violins. So I had to
wait about six months. Then when the big day arrived, I had to wait
each
day until father returned home from work while he watched me struggle
to
hold a single chord. It was after all grandfathers guitar and it must
be
treated with great respect! Six months later I could pluck and strum 3
chords. This opened up for me many songs and then they discovered that
I
had a pretty good voice. Thus it went for about 5 years. I added chords
and songs and would entertain the adults at family gatherings.
In my 12th year, Andres Segovia came to town and played at the Berkeley
Community Theater. I fell asleep during the concert. He was soooooo far
away and after the intermission as I was about to drift off suddenly
the
music became more animated and I awoke. Gee that's good I said to my
father. Yes this is the good stuff, he replied. "We are lucky to hear him.
He is getting old." He out lived my father by 15 years. Never-the-less
this was grown-up music and it wasn't until I reached the age of 16
that
I decided to take a serious interest in classical guitar. By now I had
four years of going to sleep with my father playing Bach cello suite
movements, and I decided I was ready to get serious. My
father then instructed me through the Santisban version of the Carcassi
Method supplemented with little pieces from the folio titled "An Hour
with the guitar." It was also at that time that he gave me my first LPs
of classical guitar. The Segovia plays Bach a Decca recording, the
second John Willliams album and Julian Bream's Popular Spanish Music
album.
From late 7th grade through high school, voice was my principle
instrument singing in Mens Glee, Concert Choir, Accapella choir and
Madrigals. In my junior year I earned a solo in our High School
production of Handels Messiah which was played with full orchestra. No
mikes were allowed we had to sing loudly. My senior year I was allowed
to sing the aria which followed. After school I formed a small folk
guitar trio which played for rest homes, churches and, our big shot, a
district talent show among all the High schools playing for a full
house.
Thus I entered CSC, Hayward as a voice major and took singing lessons
the first year. It was during this time that I decided I wanted to
major
in classical guitar. By luck there were other freshman who also shared
my dream. We banded together with me being the quasi ringleader and
then
together sweetly and persistently politicked the then chairman of the
Music department for a teacher. Dr. Karl Ernst one day had finally had
all he could take and so he button holed me and suggested we take a
little walk. Cal State in the spring of 1967 was a desert,
but I could see he had visions of it being full of lush vegetation as
if
it were another Notre Dame. Observing that I had been the most zealous
of the students wanting a guitar major, he invited me to assist in the
search.
He explained that they needed someone with credentials in order to be
able to hire them. So I agreed to help. I began to ask around and one
day a cello student named Andrea told me she knew of
someone. She assured me he was the real thing and had studied with
Alexander Lagoya, Julian Bream and Segovia. I had to keep pestering her
for three months and finally she said she had reached him and that he
was interested. After that through a freak accident I broke my right
leg was forced to withdraw from school and spent the next three months
in the Hospital in traction. However, I recovered quickly and when I
returned to school in the Fall of '67 Mr. Joseph Bacon, the son of the
eminent American composer Ernst Bacon, had been hired. This was a coup
for Cal State for not only was Mr. Bacon the first classical guitarist
to teach in a public four year institution of higher learning in Northern
California, he was also the son of this famous East coast composer. He
had graduated from Stanford and Harvard respectively. Within a few
years the other state colleges, having gotten wind of what Cal State
Hayward was up to, quickly followed suit and began their own programs.
The movement took quite a few years to move out of the Bay Area
northward. The South land was having its own concurrent development
unbeknownst to the Northerners.
In the middle of my second year I moved away from home permanently and
landed in San Diego. Once established, I reenrolled at San Diego State
University where the music department had an off campus classical
guitar
teacher. He was located in downtown La Jolla and his name was Roberto
Torres. Señor Torres was a fine classical and flamenco player who
taught
out of his studio on Pearl Street. It was romantically named "La Casa de
los amigos de la guitarra." He had 80 students each week and I was the
last one he saw late Friday nights. He and his brother had studied with
a pupil of Llobets and so I was now schooled in the Tarrega tradition.
I
have many happy memories of this time especially since the Maestro was
so encouraging as well as disciplined in his expectations. One of the
greatest complements ever accorded me by Oscar Ghighlia. Having
given his professional debut, at the reception held afterwards at
Robertos studio, Roberto exclaimed to Ghiglia that I was a guitarist! I
heard some excited conversation going on and then Ghiglia asked, "What
do you play?" Not realizing they were talking about me, I first ignored
him. (He had just won the French Radio Competition) Of course you must
realize that he is very tall and I am relatively short. He repeated the
question in what seemed to be a booming voice filled with authority
high
above me. Like God speaking! I looked around confused not knowing where
it was coming from nor who it was addressing and then Roberto nudged me
and said, "He is speaking to you!" I quickly gained my composure and then
rattled off the meager repertoire I had mumbling about maybe some day
being in a competition Maestro Ghiglia was then warm and encouraging
and
as a result of that meeting later many years graciously granted me an
audience in his hotel room after a concert. We had a collegial chat.
What a guy.
I finally decided that life in the balmy regions of San Diego was too
good to be true and that I needed to return to the Bay
Area for its grit and resistance. When I did finally reenroll at CSC,
Hayward I studied with an interim teacher and began my courses in Art.
Near the end of that year a graduate student had arrived on campus who
played circle around all the others. We politicked on his
behalf to be the permanent teacher and so in the fourth year he
received
a graduate assistantship, which he parleyed into a full tenured
professorship over the subsequent 25 years he taught for them until his
untimely death.
I asked that he assign the hardest program he could imagine and thus it
came to be that, unknown to me, I gave the first
performance of the complete Lute suite in E minor and possibly the
first
performance of Sonata Romantica to be premiered in Northern California.
Finally, after finishing my Art major and miscellaneous music class
fulfillment's I went in search of a finishing teacher. It was through
the people then associated with the Carmel Classic Guitar Society that
I
found the man I was looking for. My only problem was not knowing what a
finishing teacher did. Well over the next 2 and half years with Mr. Guy
Horn, Los Angeles premier classical guitar teacher having retired to
Carmel, I found the challenge and work setting in a serious studio
whose aim it was to develop the careers of aspiring artists. I have him
and his wonderful wife Lucy to thank for many memorable moments which
have indelibly shaped my life for the better. During that time the
members of his studio and other influential
people long associated with the classical guitar in the area developed
one of the first festivals devoted to the classical guitar in the USA,
and which ran successfully for 3 years. I will always treasure the
memories of those days.
After college I enrolled for graduate studies at The College of the
Holy
Names in Oakland, CA and taught Classical Guitar as a graduate teaching
assistant. Deciding it was too much to drive weekly to Carmel a 125
mile one way trip once a week, I elected to move to Monterey County
where at the time I was offered the teaching position in guitar at
Monterey Peninsula College. I held the post continuously for 5 years.
During that time the State of California honored me with a Lifetime
limited service credential in Music which some years later was mandated
to the equivalent of a Masters degree by the Legislature.
During the early years of my marriage I successfully put on a guitar
concert series on the Monterey Peninsula for two seasons bringing in
top
talent from the west coast, a venture that was favorably reviewed at
its conclusion.
Moving my family to Contra Costa County in the eighties so that my
mother could be near her grandchildren, I performed in many local and
regional events taught after school programs for children, ran guitar
classes for teens and adults in many of the areas Park and Recreation
departments and finally landed a part-time position teaching the
private
guitar students for Diablo Valley College, their first private teacher.
I held that position for three years until they ran out of funds. One
student
I proudly remember was offered a Junior level transfer and $30,000
dollars in financial assistance to go to the University of Redlands.
Since 1994 and my divorce I have been rebuilding my career in Alameda
County and based in Oakland. I have continued to offer my services as a
freelance musician and played in cafes, bookstores, coffeehouses, card
shops and for various civic groups at special events. I am currently
polishing the music for a recital to be given. Once all that needs to
be
done gets done.
I will book the recital. Date to be posted here.
Richard Spross
Oakland, California
Email me
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