I knew Daniele Magli since a long time ago but I didn't know he is
a clever guitarist. I knew he is an eccentric kind of a man, and I fell
in the trap he never studied, never worked, never done nothing for
all his life long at all.
I thought he just had fun writing and playing songs and then singing to
the italian radios or just appearing on TV as a rock and roll guitarist.
Anyway I knew his life couldn't be easy : it was an unlucky destiny accident
when just eleven years old he became blind of an eye.
I knew about his family economic troubles but inspite of them he worked hard
and he got graduated at the Conservatory as well.
Daniele Magli always bit me for his humility as he wanted to hide his merits.
As all artists he is not such an easy person to understand and I hope this
interview will help us to know him better.

Interviewer : 'How was born the idea about a classical guitar video site ?'

Daniele Magli : 'On October 30th 2004 I returned playing classical guitar as
I abandoned on 1992 and so after one year more or less, playing
one hour a day every day I felt to be rather in shape and I
decided to shoot me while playing Asturias by Albeniz.
I showed the movie to Davide, a friend of mine, and he convinced
me to upload it on the web. This gave me good feelings to go on
playing and that's how the site come up.'

Interviewer : 'Does it mean you never played classical guitar for twelve years?'

Daniele Magli : 'Exactly, I didn't touch at all classical guitar from 1992 to 2004.
I left my guitar in the closet for twelve years.'

Interviewer : 'Did you left the music behind you?'

Daniele Magli : 'No, I played a lot of different kinds of music and I collect a lot
of jobs all around music as music journalist, singer, songwriter,
copywriter, recorded some songs records and I played rock music
as a guitarist.'

Interviewer : 'When and where did you graduate at the conservatory ?'

Daniele Magli : 'I graduated at the F.E. Dall'Abaco Conservatory Verona Italy
on the 30th June 1992'

Daniele Magli playing an harp guitar built by Luigi Mozzani on 1925

Daniele Magli playing a romantica guitar built by Luigi Mozzani on 1919

Interviewer: 'How do you begin playing classical guitar ?'

Daniele Magli : ' My parents bought an Andres Segovia's record 'Obras Breves Espanolas' and I used to listen to this Long Playing and it made me dream. It contains some pieces as 'Capricho Arabe', 'Arada', 'La filla del Marxant', 'Torre Bermeja' and I decided that I will have played all that pieces !'

Interviewer : 'Was Andres Segovia your most important inspirer?'

Daniele Magli : 'Sure he was, and I was so lucky to see a concert of him in Venice at Scuola Grande di S. Giovanni Evangelista on November 16th 1985. There Andres Segovia played music by Tansman, Moreno Torroba, Granados, Ponce... That concert was a great emotion experience and I will remember it forever.'

Interviewer : 'Have you attended some Master Classes after the Conservatory?'

Daniele Magli : 'No. I'm not against Master Classes and it would be a plasure to study with John Williams or Angelo Gilardino. Anyway I do not regret that and when I'm at my best I like my style and my sound too.'

Interviewer : 'Who were your masters then..?'

Daniele Magli : 'I found three very good masters : the first was Tommaso De Nardis (Venice Conservatory) he told me everithing about Sor, Carulli and Tarrega's technique. The second one was Dino Doni, he studied with Ruggero Chiesa (Andres Segovia's apprentice), I studied with him Villa Lobos, Mauro Giuliani and Bach.

Interviewer : 'What about the third one ?'

Daniele Magli : 'The third master was myself ! When I rebegin to play I found I was very severe with myself. I read the technical instruction from Angelo Gilardino's manual applying his hints. Afterwards I played Angelo Gilardino's studies, they are fantastic to make stronger the left hand and to improove the music quality. Then I began to study Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco's works, 'Tarantella' and 'Capriccio Diabolico' in particular.'

Interviewer : 'Who are the most important authors or methods you studied at the Conservatory ?'

Daniele Magli : 'During my first years "La escuela razonada de la guitarra" by Emilio Pujol (Four Volumes), Ferdinando Carulli's Method, "120 Arpeggios2 by Mauro Giuliani. Then I studied Op. 31 and Op. 35 by Fernando Sor (they are the famous studies choosed by Andrés Segovia).

Reginald Smith Brindle Method titled "Guitar Cosmos - Progressive Pieces for guitar with an introduction by Julian Bream" it was very important to understand contemporary music.

Interviewer : 'Is it true you to have a wide musical memory?'

Daniele Magli : 'As all classical guitarists I developed three kinds of memory: 1) visual memory, it's very important to visualize scores and to learn them by heart, 2) Tactile memory, I prefere to call it muscolar memory, 3) ear memory, I prefere to call it mind memory for sounds, this is the most important above all.'

Interviewer : 'Is it possible to perform a concert playing half a repertoire by heart and half reading scores?'

Daniele Magli : 'Yes, sure, but fingering a piece it could be a conflict with playing by heart (this reffering to my experience of playing two - three hours a day, maybe those who are playing six hours a day as Andrés Segovia or John Williams are not affected at it). A lack of memory could happen because of thinking to something else : your mind go on solving fingering problems even when not playing the new piece you are working on. Avoid reading new scores three days before the concert but you could play any pieces although it should be by heart or you are reading it since a long time that's to use the same brain area'

Interviewer : 'Are you able to keep at your best all the pieces you know by heart?'

Daniele Magli : 'No, it's not possible but at this topic let's point out some distinctions : one thing is your finger athletic shape playing classical guitar and another thing is the knowledge level of the piece you are studing. When your athetic shape level is above 70% it is sufficent a 60% knowledge level to reach a good performance, you could play the piece just three times a day for one week and then playing it to an audience or make a video: that's the way it worked for me in fandanguillo . But if your athletic level is about 40% (as it happens when not playing every day) you'll have to know the piece at 100%. Remember that having an athletic level at 40% you'll have to avoid virtuosism as quickness of playing, sound legatos, brilliant arpeggios and all will be harder and above all, you'll have to play the same piece six times a day at least and this will turn out very annoying.'

Interviewer : 'So wich should be the best way to reach a good shape?'

Daniele Magli : 'The most important thing is keep on playing every day and just skipping 20 days a year maximum. I mean, it's possible to have some holidays but not more then three weeks ! You could play technique, scales and your repertoire pieces or just pieces from your repertoire if including techniques as legato, rasgueado, arpeggio and barrè.'

This interview will go on soon, if you have some questions for Daniele Magli
you can write at ilgam77d[at]yahoo.it maybe your question will be added
to this interview. This interview will go on soon, if you have some questions for Daniele Magli
you can write at ilgam77d[at]yahoo.it maybe your question will be added
to this interview.