From the Spring 2017 Issue of Classical Guitar | BY BLAIR JACKSON I originally conceived of this Special Focus on Guitar Injuries and Recovery over a year ago. Word had just come down that Miloš Karadaglic suddenly cancelled a long tour in support of Blackbird, his new album of imaginative interpretations of Beatles songs, due to what was vaguely termed a “thumb injury.” Did he close it in a door? Was it hurt in a fall? Or was it something […]]]>
“I’ve become a sort of poster child for focal dystonia,” the eminent New York-based guitarist, composer, and teacher David Leisner mentioned in an ema il early on in our correspondence about this article. Indeed, though an untold number of classical guitarists—including many who preceded him—have been afflicted, sometimes unknowingly, with FD, Leisner was one of the first to publicly speak out about his battle—and he is also one of the few who seems to have fully beaten this crippling condition […]]]>
When Irina Kulikova broke her arm at age 19, she developed an interest in the relationship between music and health: How to stay healthy as a musician, and how music can serve as medicine.]]>
Cal Henshaw is one of the top young guitarists in Australia, winner of multiple guitar competitions and already a world traveler—this past December he played and taught a master class at the Saigon International Guitar Festival in Vietnam. In mid-2014, I had to admit to myself that there was something seriously wrong with my arms. I had returned to Australia after spending six months, on the back of an honors year, preparing and competing throughout Europe. I practiced, carried all […]]]>
In July 1984, the incomparable master-guitarist Julian Bream was seriously injured in an automobile accident near his Dorset, England, home. Swerving his MG sports car to avoid another vehicle, he left the roadway and crashed into the side of bridge, suffering multiple fractures to his right elbow. Fortunately, his hand was not injured. Still, the recovery was long and arduous, as he told Classical Guitar writer/editor Chris Kilvington (1944–1999) in the September 1993 issue, edited below. I had to do […]]]>
A brief memory from Lily Afshar: There was a time when my left hand fingertips turned green due to a chemical reaction from normal body oils to the guitar strings. It was during my Doctoral years, when I was preparing a concert, which, in hindsight, should have been split into two programs. It consisted of all challenging pieces: Bach’s Fourth Lute Suite, the Ginastera Sonata, Sor’s Grand Solo, Albeniz’s Mallorca, Sevilla, Torre Bermeja, and Tango, the Ponce Suite, and Rodrigo’s […]]]>
Dan Griffith is an Arizona-based singer and songwriter who plays all sorts of different stringed instruments, including guitar, ukulele, and vihuela, and written music in many different styles. He has played songs in TV shows and commercials and is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who put on the Grammy Awards. I began playing guitar in 7th grade in 1963. I studied music and classical guitar at the University of Toledo [Ohio]. I played […]]]>
John E. Walker is an amateur guitarist who lives in Billings, Montana. Here, he talks about how his love of playing classical guitar was derailed by a nerve problem. I’ve been suffering from ulnar nerve issues in my right forearm for many years. In the mid-1990s, I put down the electric guitar after many years of being obsessed with it and decided I was ready to commit myself fully to the classical guitar. I would spend my days working at […]]]>
In a 1984 interview in CG, the great Cuban composer/guitarist Leo Brouwer revealed to writer Gareth Walters that an issue with a single fingernail had serious consequences. This is becoming dramatic and I have to solve it because I need to play. It’s a necessity for me to play and to communicate through the guitar. The problem started when I contracted some allergy that was starting to spoil my nail, and the sound of this infected nail was horrible. I […]]]>
By David Leisner David Leisner is a classical guitarist and composer who won top prizes in the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. He was struck with focal dystonia in the 1980s, a disorder that affected his right hand when playing guitar. His intense study of large-muscle groups led to him healing himself, and he now teaches these discoveries to students as an expert on focal distonia. 1. Don’t be afraid of large motions. Small motions often create […]]]>