My lesson with Professor Hubert Käppel ~ At the Internationales Pfingstseminar Koblenz Guitar Festival ~ May 2007

I entered the room where I had previously played my round One in the Koblenz 2007 Competition. This was a most awaited lesson with Professor Hubert Käppel. I wasn’t nervous because I already experienced Prof Käppel’s style in my masterclass two days earlier.

Professor Käppel is among the most influential teachers and guitarists of his generation. Currently he directs a guitar program at the Musikhochschule Köln, one of the most successful guitar classes in Europe. Many students from this class have been international competition winners. Montenegrin Classical Guitarist Goran Krivokapic received his "Konzertexamen" degree from there.

I put my guitar case on the floor and unpacked. We spoke a little about my last approach to playing Johann Sebastian bach’s Chaconne in his masterclass, especially when I used tirando instead of Apoyando. Then I took out one of my guitar music folders.

Prof Käppel looked through the pieces then later asked “Do you play some Guiliani?” then said he would like to listen to the 1st Movement of the Sonata in C by Giuliani. “I haven’t really played this piece in a while” I replied, but he smiled and assured me “it’s fine, just go ahead and play.”
So I began playing. Halfway on the second page I went blank on a bar, but it wasn’t a big deal and I kept playing through till the end. When I finished, he excitedly clapped “Bravo, Bravo…Are you really eleven or what?...So do you have the music in your head, no problem with memorising?...you’re a virtuoso talent…It’s too bad, because I would like to teach you…it’s amazing what you can do…”
I was overwhelmed by his comments.

Then he walked towards the table to get his black leather handcase. It was full of all these different bits of sand papers, from super fine 8000 to normal. He adjusted his spectacles, took my hand and started filing my nails. He was aiming to achieve a shape which he called “A direct way from the fingertip, which is the flesh, to the nail”. Immediately afterward, I played with the new nail shape and it turned out it was a really nice sound. So I said enthusiastically, “Keep filing!” and we all had a laugh.
It was a very different sound from the one I usually produce. Prof Käppel showed me many ways of getting different sounds by various right and left hand shapes & techniques. He also demonstrated how to combine the right hand fingers with just the right tension or “fixation” when playing chords so all the notes will reverberate and sound as one.

For the whole time during the lesson, his knowledge of the music and its history was highly educational, telling curious stories about the piece, and why it is played that way etc.

I was thrilled when Prof Käppel invited me to study at the Gitarrenakademie Koblenz (Koblenz Guitar Academy.)
This academy was founded in 2001 by Prof Käppel and Composer Georg Schmitz. It’s a school devoted to nurturing the development of exceptionally talented young guitarists.

I look forward so much to seeing Prof Käppel again and I would love to study with him when the circumstances permit.