Brazilain Daze, Spanish Knights

Coming from a family that has musical talent: singer, pianist, drummer, guitarist…me, well, I can listen really well. And that is just what I did last night at the Brazilian Daze, Spanish Knights Guitar Concert. It was an amazing experience! Tobin Roye, Chico State’s guitar program director, was the main performer, but was later joined by others. Tobin is a very broadly talented guitarist; he’s played in rock bands, jazz, and musical theatre. His favorite and where he dedicates most of his time, is classical. He is a Chico State Alumni, but has also attended San Francisco Conservatory of Music and received scholarships for Guitar Summer Workshops. Tobin was a part of the San Francisco Guitar Society in which he recorded a track on a compilation CD. He is a very well-recognized musician and it was quite obvious why.

Having a little background in music definitely helped me appreciate the skills that Tobin Roye has. The Brazilian and Spanish style of guitar playing is extremely fast! The speed at which his fingers were moving was astonishing!! I honestly didn’t know that the sounds that came from his guitar were possible. When he was playing solo it almost sounded like there was someone else playing with him. One of my favorite pieces was one that was actually written by a 20^th Century man from Paraguay, not exactly Brazilian, but none-the-less, beautiful!   It was called Vals OP. 8, #3, by Augustin Barrios. It was really fun to hear him play a song that my younger brother actually played at one of his recitals, Fandaullio.  Each of the songs he played were either a Spanish or Brazilian waltz, so I have to say, they did start to sound the same.  What was really amazing though, was when he started drumming on his guitar during one of his songs!  It was awesome to see him use his guitar like that!  I wanted to ask if that was included in the music or if he just added that himself.  When I looked at the program, however, I knew what I was looking forward to the most…the duets and quartets! It’s so amazing to hear the “dance” between the different guitars, especially in the Brazilian/Spanish waltzes! All in all I really enjoyed the concert and would recommend that Tobin Roye to another fundraiser by recording a CD!!