CLASSICAL GUITAR PROGRAM
The McCallum Classical Guitar Program is divided into four levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and ‘chamber’, which is the top level performing ensemble. Students in the Chamber Ensemble have the opportunity to study in a large ensemble as well as quartet every school day. The performance centered program emphasizes the development of fluid music literacy, fundamental and ergonomic classical guitar technique, and stylistic musical interpretation of classical guitar music. Students have several opportunities to perform and compete as both soloists and ensemble musicians.
ACCOLADES:
The McCallum High School and Fine Arts Academy is home to one of the leading classical guitar programs in Texas. McCallum’s Guitar Ensembles have won numerous prizes in the Rio Grande Valley and Hill Country National Classical Guitar Ensemble Competitions, and have received several consecutive Superior Sweepstakes Ratings at the AISD Concert and Sight Reading Contest. The McCallum Classical Guitar Ensemble has performed showcases at major conventions such as TMEA and the Guitar Foundation of America, and have collaborated and performed with some of the finest artists in the world- including Pepe Romero, David Russell, Clarice Assad, and the Miro Quartet.
Students in the McCallum Classical Guitar Program have opportunities to perform in masterclasses for leading classical guitarists such as Adam Holzman (UT), GFA winner Raphael Feuillatre, as well as the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Students have also won prestigious awards such as the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Competition’s ‘Outstanding Musician’ award, the Texas Young Master’s grant, the Houston Classical Guitar Competition, and the Columbus Guitar Symposium Competition. McCallum’s Guitar Ensembles travel yearly to visit and perform at schools such as the Berklee School of Music (Boston), the Manhattan School of Music, and CalArts in Los Angeles.
Graduates of the McCallum Classical Guitar Program have successfully pursued music studies at some of the finest Guitar programs in the country- the University of Texas with Adam Holzman, Yale University with Ben Verdery, Milwaukee with Rene Izquierdo.
CLASSICAL GUITAR CURRICULUM:
The curriculum follows The Austin Classical Guitar Society’s online guitar curriculum, a sequentially developed, nine-level curriculum designed both for a classroom of students who are all at the same level (i.e. most beginning classes) as well as varying levels represented.
Classes consist of rehearsing repertoire in three/four parts while developing technical, music reading, and expressive skills. Selected repertoire consists of a historical survey of music arranged and composed for the classical guitar ranging from the Renaissance era to contemporary works by Austin composers. Every student is required to participate in winter and spring performances.
Andrew Clark
Director of Classical Guitar
Guitar Portable
Born and raised in rural northern British Columbia, Andrew Clark began studying the classical guitar at 13. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Guitar Performance from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, was awarded a full 2 year scholarship to L’Escuela Nacional de la Musica in Havana, Cuba, and was the recipient of a graduate assistantship to Columbus State University, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Music with a concentration in Guitar Pedagogy in 2008. He has been directing the Classical Guitar Program at McCallum High School and Fine Arts Academy since 2009.