Bio
Although I was born in Canada, I was sent to my grandparents in Romania, while my parents, new to Canada, tried to settle in. Romanian was my first language, but it was music that actually helped me learn English. When I returned to Canada my kindergarten teacher used to teach by singing and strumming chords on a guitar. It was these music-English lessons that taught me how to speak English and communicate with my classmates.
At the age of 6, I started to learn the guitar and by 7, and for 10 subsequent years, I competed and won provincial festivals in beginner, intermediate, and senior divisions in Manitoba and British Columbia. At the age of fifteen, I was selected to accompany Gary Karr, the famous classical bassist, through the Collegium Gifted Musicians Program for a concert at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. I felt encouraged and by the age of 17, I was selected to represent British Columbia in the classical guitar division at Canada’s National Music Festival.
That same year, I left to pursue a Bachelor in Classical Guitar Performance degree at the University of Texas at Austin, where I studied with Adam Holzman. Then I moved to Florida to pursue a Master’s in Music at Florida State University under Bruce Holzman, another giant in the world of classical guitar. I was getting a fantastic education. While in the United States, I entered and won the 1st prize at the International Southern Guitar Ensemble Competition. I also placed 2nd in the Houston International Guitar Ensemble Competition. After receiving my master's degree, McGill University offered me a scholarship to enter into their PhD program, and at McGill, I studied with Patrick Kearney, an internationally award-winning performance guitarist. In 2024, I received my PhD in Classical Performance from McGill.
My early experiences with music and advice from mentors inform my own concept of playing and my style of teaching. How I play is based on my wanting to have the audience feel emotions and this desire to communicate emotions is also conveyed in my teaching.
For example, I often discuss dynamics and tonal colours. I tell my students to think of a piece as a story or feeling communicated through the music they are playing. Even with beginning students, I don’t want them to merely play the notes. When they know a piece well, I want them to talk to the listener through their music — even the beginning student. If you read through Barry’s endorsement below, you’ll see that he was surprised that I asked him to do more than play the notes but to start communicating to the listener, and he has started classical guitar from scratch and only studied with me merely one year.
Teaching Philosophy
When it comes to specific suggestions relating to the music, I tend to lean towards providing imagery and using metaphors involving nature and animals. To give you an idea, if a student isn't playing a flowing legato section well, I will ask them to imagine that the notes are pearls on a necklace, each shining in their own way, but still connected by the same thread. Or, I'll ask them to imagine what it would feel like to float down a calm river. At first, and without any specific direction, I'll ask them to emulate the image or feeling, whatever it means to them, in their playing. More often than not, they begin to understand immediately. But, if not, I'll play a few measures in a couple of different ways to get my point across. My goal is for the student to discover what it feels like to play musically in their own voice.
Depending on the student's age, I will use analogies they can relate to. For example, if I ask a younger student to repeat a section during a lesson, and they are against the idea, I often bring up another hobby they like to do. I'll ask them "What's your favourite sport?" or "What are you really good at?" They'll answer, "Soccer...Hockey...Reading... etc." And that's when they've given me an in! My next question usually goes something like this, "Now, how many times did you have to kick a soccer ball before you got a goal?" or "How many times did you have to skate around the rink before you could do it without falling down?" or "How many books do you think you've read?" By doing this, I hope to help them realize that some things take real practice, and time.
For the more advanced students, there is an increased focus on the micro-movements of the fingers on both hands, how to practice effectively, and how to develop skills and techniques related to playing musically in front of others.
When I decided to study classical guitar, I felt that I needed a classical guitar specialist, not simply a classical guitar player, but a teacher who could take me into the world of classical guitar and tell me things I heard were important, like how to hold the guitar, how to hold my hand, how to sit, how to alternate the fingers of my right hand, how to shape my nails, etc. Well, in the year that I’ve been studying with Raz, I’ve learned all of this and so much more.
I came to Raz with some goals. I wanted to learn how to read music and how to make my way along the neck. He listened to what I wanted, but he knew what I needed. What I wanted had to wait for what I needed — like a solid foundation. Raz feels that the basics of classical guitar are not only fundamentally important, but crucial, and so he would repeatedly correct my hand and arm positions, and he watched if I was alternating the fingers of my right hand correctly until I started to get it. I began to read books on classical guitar and I found that everything the books said, he had told me, but he would also show me and correct me, which books couldn’t do.
At one point, he began to talk about playing more musically. I said, “Really? I’m so new at this. Isn’t it enough right now that I am playing the notes correctly?” Not for Raz. He wanted to ingrain in me the ways to play and sound better. He told me that it’s never too early to start developing good tone and to try to interpret the music, rather than just playing the notes. He often would play a few bars several different ways to make his point.
Now, while Raz can teach advanced classical guitarists, he easily makes a neophyte like me feel comfortable, listened to, and important enough to take seriously. We discuss everything, from how to practise, to what makes a fine classical guitarist, and he shows me why they are considered special. We even attended a master class together (I watched), and after the class we discussed how everyone played. I saw some of the same things he saw, and that’s another step in my musical education. Clearly, Raz goes beyond simply putting in an hour of teaching.
You want to learn the entire neck, or to read? He’ll give you exercises to accomplish that. If he thinks you’ve been playing a piece for too long, he’ll add a new piece that will still encompass the same technique and notes you were learning, but now you have a fresh piece to keep your interest up. Now, that’s a teacher!
I often ask him to play a piece for me that I’m about to embark on. He thinks I merely want to hear that piece, but it’s my way of listening to an accomplished classical guitarist. It’s like having a private mini concert. I don’t think he knew why I got him to play for me. I guess he knows now. Lol.
Barry, Montreal, 2024
Barry’s Endorsement