Music Monday: Sunburst by Andrew York

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There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it.

Maybe you will find a new favorite.

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One of my favorite contemporary classical guitar pieces is “Sunburst”. It is exciting and exhilarating to play. I have learned and relearned it several times. Relearned? Yeah, unfortunately, if I don’t play it on a regular basis (like many of my favorites, including my own compositions), it is easily forgotten. Not completely, but enough that I have to repeat the whole process of putting it back together—to play for a while.

Written by American guitarist/composer Andrew York, it does fit well under the fingers, meaning even though it is quick, with flurries of notes that seem to fly by, the natural use of how the guitar is set up, makes learning it less challenging than is sounds. Also, the outer strings that are normally tuned to E are both dropped to D, making for a rich bass and easier melodic sequences.

Don’t get me wrong, it is difficult and fast, but the fingers fall sweetly on the notes to make it flow.

I wish this was me playing, but I would need a few months to get it back, then a few more to record, and I still wouldn’t be satisfied. So, I’ll hand it over to John Williams (no, not the Star Wars guy).

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I hope you enjoyed this piece. I may have to learn it again . . . again

-Leon

^{*It’s true.}

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Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

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