[ the lectures ]

I have very much enjoyed the time I have spent giving lectures. This has taken me to a number of countries and venues. The lectures are (usually) on guitar-related subjects. Previous venues include, to name but a few: The Royal College of Music, London, The Royal Academy of Music, London, The International Symposium on Instrument Acoustics, Edinburgh, The Glasgow Conservatiore, The School of Musical Instrument Making, Moss, Norway, The Faculty of Music, Denver, Colorado, GFA Summer School, Hartfort,Conneticut, The Faculty of Music, Cleveland, Ohio, The Conservatoire of Music, Bergen, Norway, Hamburger Gitarrentage 2010, Hamburg. I also lecture at numerous music societies and summer schools. For more information, or to make a booking, please apply.

Mental modelling for guitar acoustics

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

This lecture is aimed as much towards players as makers. Many strands of current acoustic research are brought together in a series of "mental models". One of the greatest achievements of the human brain has been the ability to reduce very complicated problems to a series of images, or mental models. Einstein was one of the most gifted modellers of them all, and managed to arrive at astonishingly profound ways of interpreting the cosmos using very simple analogies. This is my attempt to do a similar thing, in order to "visualise" sound.

Strings and stringing for guitarists.

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

The quality of stringed instruments soared as soon as the quality of strings improved through the 1700's. This lecture traces the history of string making, from the earliest lute strings to modern guitar strings, and highlights the milestones in the process of string manufacture. It shows how the choice of modern strings influences both the construction and the characteristics of the guitar, and helps players to make an informed choice concerning the strings that they use.

Traditional Guitar construction.

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

Traditional guitar construction methods have changed very little in 150 years. This lecture traces these traditional methods and shows the process of making a classical guitar very much in the Spanish style, that would have been used by makers such as Antonio Torres from about 1850, and still continue to the present day. The process includes choice of materials, working practices, assembly and the final stages of lacquering and setting up.

Quadrivium

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

The Four Arts of Number. For most of our past, numbers have been considered to have four forms: pure and applied stationary and dynamic. This gave rise to the four unlikely disciplines of mathematics and music, geometry and cosmology. In our digital age, numbers are more important than ever and this lecture explores the intricate and beautiful patterns that numbers have woven through our arts and sciences, from Genesis to Chaos theory.

A brief history of guitar/ violin design

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

For most of the history of lutherie, the science of acoustics was totally unknown. For centuries, the nature of sound was hardly understood at all. Makers did not primarily build instruments for the quality of sound, but followed arcane beliefs still in existence from the time of Pythagoras : a curious blend of alchemy and superstition. As a result, most makers throughout history worked not for the glory of sound, but rather for the glory of God. This lecture traces the remarkable change in philosophy caused by the rise of science, and shows how musical instruments have been profoundly influenced by modern acoustics research from Helmholtz to hologram interferometry and by the development of modern structural materials.

The guitar as engineering

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides/OHP slides

We are accustomed to think of the guitar from the point of view of the tone and the music. This lecture approaches from an unfamiliar viewpoint the instrument that is so familiar to us. With the aid of engineering principles and recent acoustics research, it enables us to visualize the forces, deflections and dynamics of the guitar once it is set in motion. This lecture also poses the question what kind of constructional changes may be possible or desirable.

Better by design

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

There are many different ways to approach lutherie, however research brings the possibility of rapid change. Nothing teaches like experimentation. This lecture outlines the process of research, and shows how it can influence the design of, among other things, guitars.

Antonio Stradivari

Duration : 1 hour
Format : Powerpoint slides

The life and work of the most famous luthier of them all! There has been a great deal of romanticism attached to his life, and a great deal of mystery associated with his instruments. This is an attempt to present a realistic account of the man, the importance of some of his finest instruments, and his legacy to subsequent generations of makers.