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Thank you,
Ivan Mauricio Olarte

This is a page dedicated to my pursuit of the mastery of Classical Guitar.

One of the first things I must suggest to you is that you visit delcamp.us which is the worlds largest global forum dedicated to the mastery of classical guitar.

Also, below is a picture of my practice space. These are my two classical guitars.

The one on the left (is the fist one that I bought after a 30+ year break from music) is a Cordoba 45fce flamenco\classical cutaway Spruce top. It was made in 2007, and while I  no longer play it much, I have no plans of getting rid of it.

The Cordoba has a John Pearse slim armrest installed, and I use a Tenuto support with it as well.

The one on the right, shown behind the music stand and ready to be played, is my beloved Antonio Loriente “Clarita” Cedar top. It’s a great guitar as the Antonio Loriente line of guitars are of exceptional value, great materials & workmanship, and very affordable. It’s made of solid woods, an ebony fretboard, and bone saddle and bridge. This guitar was made in 2004, and I purchased it used about 6 months go. I plan to keep it as my permanent every day guitar, even after I upgrade to a concert quality guitar.

I had a custom made arm rest made of Brazilian rosewood by Kris Barnett,  for the Clarita, and also use the attached Ergoplay Troster support seen here.

Also shown is the perfect art piece “Abstract Guitar” by Paul Brent to complement my practice room. And a Manhassett 48″ music stand perfect for holding up to 4 pages of sheet music, or various books used during practice and teaching.  Last of all, the Shiatsu massage cushion attached to my practice chair. That comes in handy from time to time, while practicing scales and other warm up exercises. It’s also great to relieve any tension, if I noticed it during practice. I take a quick 5 min break, with a quick massage.

Please click on the image below to get a better of view of my room within your browser.

Practice corner with my Antonio Loriente "Clarita" Cedar top waiting to be played...

Links to various posts and stories related to Classical Guitar:

Changing Teachers? Review of a lesson with Eric Christensen - My story about changing teachers to guide me on my journey of Classical Guitar

Jose Luis Merlin 2010 US Tour! – what a great event! This post is about one of my favorite contemporary composers and artists the Great Jose Luis Merlin and his quartet. He and his quartet will be touring the US, and I was able to arrange a trip to see them perform, and to schedule a meeting and a private lesson with Mr. Merlin… all I can say is WOW!

Practice Routine – What works for me. – This is a short post on the structure of my daily practice routine.

The Zen Of  Practicing – Quality Vs Quantity -This is an essay that I wrote (by request for Dan Starr’s 5 minute piano lesson blog), about the embracing the task of practicing. Unfortunately the blog is no longer available and so I have re-posted the original essay here for those that have requested it. Hope you enjoy it.

New Videos posted on Youtube created and posted form my Ipad2 – New Classical Guitar Videos created and posted from my Ipad2. This is to highlight how the practices I use in mindfulness and mediation have helped me to get to the next level of playing music.