Q &A with guest artist Josh McGuire

    Guest artist Josh McGuire sat down with the Colonnade to discuss his performance and how even as a pro, he has his doubts too.

Colonnade: Overall, how did you think the performance went?

McGuire:You know, I think as a musician one loses the ability to be completely happy with a performance after a while … there are always some unexpected mistakes that bother you afterwards, keep you awake.  And yet one remembers that the important thing is for people to come together and hear live music – which is simply to hear time pass in special way, a more intense way, to listen to a story and enjoythemselves.  And people seemed to have that experience, so in that sense I feel it was a success.

Colonnade: You said that Elogio de la Danza was one of your favorites – is there a specific reason why? (And what exactly does the title mean itself?)

McGuire: The title means “Elegy of the Dance” – I think it’s one of my favorites because it leaves you a degree of rhythmic and dramatic license as a performer, a lot of room to play with time and color. There are always sounds that come out of the guitar that surprise me in that piece.

Colonnade: Was this your first time performing at GCSU?

McGuire: It was not — my wife Jennifer and I taught here last year, and I had
the wonderful experience of performing with Dr. Richard Greene at that time.

Colonnade: Were you happy about the turn out or did you expect more people to come out?

McGuire: I was very happy, considering I was playing during the SuperBowl! I’m always glad to see people in the audience – I think for some musicians that’s a scary feeling, especially at first, but for me it’s always been a friendly, exciting thing to see walking out on stage. No matter how it goes, there’s always a sense of privilege for me in having an audience.

Colonnade: Did you enjoy performing with Wendy Mullen?

McGuire: I adored it — Wendy is a great friend and a really super musician. We had so much fun putting the program together on short notice that I was sad for it to be over!

Colonnade: As a young musician what was something you struggled with? And how did you overcome it?

McGuire: Like a lot of young musicians, I of course despised practicing.   I still don’t trust someone who says they really love it all the time – it’s hard work, and there’s no arrival point, no point at which you can say, “It’s finished,” or “It’s ready.”  But once you drop the need for instant gratification, for results, then there does come a quiet sort of joy at the long, slow pace of what you’re doing.  That’s how I’ve come to relate to my practice, at least for now.

Colonnade: Do you play any other instruments at this time?

McGuire: Yes, but only when no one else is listening!

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 8 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry