JUAMPY JUAREZ’S CAPRICIOUS MISTRESS!(2)

By likemindblog

Juampy c-IMG_5170

JUAMPY as he is called, was born Juan Pablo Juarez,  started playing when he was 13 years old, “but actually, says he,  I played guitar a little before that with my cousin’s guitar.  I’ve always been in love with music, and playing guitar was my dream, and this dream  has never left.

My first guitar was a nylon stringed,  it was a gift from my mother, when I was 13, and I began to play by ear.  Two  years later I took lessons first with my aunt Irma, she was a classical trained teacher in piano and guitar, and voice also.   Six months later I took lessons with my first jazz teacher, Marcelo Mayor, a fantastic, gifted player that showed me jazz and I immediately fell in love with it.

And now let’s continue from where we had left off…

No. 8 )  Do you identify with your music and if so, on what level?  Juampy photo (3)

Question number 8 was already answered before,

No. 9)  How do you feel about creativity in the school system?

I think that creativity is the key word about art and life, I feel really well every time that I create something , and always this something is something new, for me and for everybody, this is the good thing about creativity, something new always arises from it.

I really feel gifted for being creative on the guitar, I don’t want to appear selfish or egomaniac, but the truth is that I imagine many thing so often, talking about new techniques, new theoritical ideas, besides new songs, intros, arrangements or whatever.

I always say to my students  tofocus more on creativity than practice, even practice depends on creativity, for an artist, creativity is everything, and even more than this.

I don’t feel that schools could transmit creativity to the students, it depends upon teachers and students of course, I feel that schools lack love  of teaching, but schools and academies in general are well organized and they teach many topics.

I feel that a good teacher, teaching privately is more important than any school, to have a personal Maestro, like in Asian culture for martials arts or zen, to me that is essential. A good teacher could transmit to you creativity, based on love of music and life.

Juampy 1941477108-1No. 10) In your opinion, what could be a simple solution to improve creativity in the school system?

The answer is yes, schools need to pay more at first, lol, and then propose  personal teaching too, beyond all the topics that the academy teaches to  groups.

Academies need  to stay closer to students, and get the best, the most creaitive guys there, looking for innovative artists beyond  grades,   curriculum or any diploma.

Schools need to be open to new styles and approaches , and keep the innovative guy like a gem, take care of him, again paying him well and helping him with research.  Society needs and has to support this kind of artist, not only schools.  But for now, this is a chimeric dream.  But I’m optimist for the future.

No. 11)  How do you feel about improvisation?

I love improvisation, I can’t imagine living my life without improvisation, for this reason I’m in love with jazz, and any style where improvisation is important, like flamenco, blues,  or modern classical. Improvisation is a must for any musician beyond style or genre that he/she plays, understanding that the only style that really gets better on it is jazz.

If you want to learn how to improvise, you have to learn jazz, I think that there are no other ways .Except you if are really gifted.

In the last 50 years or so, jazz flies to the moon talking about improvising, reaching everytime new heights and undreamed places.

Since Coltrane days from now, Jazz improv has traced a parallel history along side classicalJuampy mqdefault music, from late romantics to serial and 12 tone techniques, and beyond.

Always I say that the thing that an improviser needs to have are the tools in his/her hands right at the moment of music  , because he/she is an artist but also is a performer, a composer doesn’t need it. He has time.

The thing that I love in jazz is the researching spirit on it, the creative thing that this style possesses, as jazz players, we don’t have any borders, any limits that we cannot surpass, and we need the classical researchers too, to get inspired and manipulate classical theory inventions, because I think that every new musical theory first is born as classical music, and then  can possibly be adapted to jazz.

No. 12)  What is jazz to you?

Well, in the previous question I said that for me jazz, is no limits music, improvisational music, and perhaps it has the African rhythm behind,  which may be a little lost nowadays, but for me still is so important and divides musicians in two groups; the first group can swing, and the other can not, lol.

Juampy 2mqdefaultI can see that in today’s recording, many guys cannot swing, and they have success, and it’s weird, same with the tone, in the past it was a must that the jazz player have this two things at first, tone and swing, but not anymore.

In opposite with the last, I think that jazz today has much richness talking about good sounding recordings, we have millions of really good players, maybe they sound similar between them, but because  of schools and universities we have many efficient players, however, efficient doesn’t mind creative.

But beyond my thinking of the  jazz scene today, I love jazz because it has no borders, it has improvisation, it has composing, chord melody, melody, harmony, interplay, long solos, long intros, long endings, composition, big band, small combos, duos , trios, solo instrument,  many many toys  to play like a child and discover and rediscover new musical events all the time.

You can play jazz with a distorted sound or acoustic, with an orchestra or with one instrument alone, and always  it will be jazz, jazz is growing and expanding all the time.  And perhaps it bears the most incredible popular music of the world, jazz standards, you can play 12 tone techniques or any other modern idea over a standard song, and it will support this idea, wil not suffer, will stay strong and will be hungry for more. Definitively, I love jazz.

No. 13)  What role do you feel music plays in our societies, at a universal level?Juampy1 mqdefault

Music is necessary like oxygen today more than never, because today humans don’t rest in nature and has lost his relationship with the sacred spirit that belongs to everything that you see, listen or touch.  Music save lives, and improves it no doubt about it.  Music is healthy, and is a miracle.  A real miracle.

Every Time that I listen to some marvellous  music, I believe firmly that it is a miracle,  it is Gods ‘s fire that Prometheus gave to humans. He was punished for it, because he gave to us the most sacred thing in the universe, music and the possibility to MAKE music.

With no music, I really think in this way, life will be horrible,  boring, with much more hate, pain and darkness.

Being a musician is something that I will be thankful to my last day, Every Time that I have a life problem, as it could be love, death or any other serious or not too serious problem, I play my guitar and I feel well again, at least, for a while. And it has an infinite value. Nothing is like music.

Being a musician is the way to bring  to the world a little beauty, trying to avoid political miseries, wars, hunger, poverty, and others human  trash.

I cannot think of  any  better life than that of being a musician, even if  it’s hard to survive talking about money, gigs, or whatever.  Definitively, music is my life.

juampyj_4 Juampy, I want to thank you for your generosity in sharing with us your life as a musician, and your wonderful talent that helps heal this world.  I do hope we work together again and until then, I wish you all the best in all your endeavours.  Be blessed, my friend!

TO THE READER :

 You are cordially invited to visit Juampy’s links below.  Your comments are always appreciated, thank you so much and enjoy!

www.modernguitarlessons.blogspot.com  
www.youtube.com/user/juampyjuarez  
www.mikesmasterclasses.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Juampy-Juarez
https://twitter.com/#!/JuampyJuarezgtr  

http://www.dimarzio.com/player/juampy-juarez

http://youtu.be/BRJLL4xAZDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfdnNBV9Sc&feature=share&list=UU1a7B_ARJdLAKH6_B5fTPCg

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Filed in: MUSIC • Sunday, November 18th, 2012
 

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About

My name is Michele Andree. I am an artist, I paint musicians in action. I think I’m a musician at heart, my instrument being… a brush, so I play…brush and I paint… music.
I love jazz. I call it freedom music. It promotes special values. I love intelligent people and good conversations.

Some people ask me how music relates to art. Personally I find they go hand in hand. Music is what turns me on to painting. It makes me see colours