Audition Requirements
Applications with audition videos are due February 28.
Create an unlisted YouTube video including all of the following requirements:
1. Introduce yourself: include your name, grade, school, and county.
2. Answer this interview question:
What skills and characteristics do you have that make you an ideal candidate for PAVAN?
3. Perform the required piece: Memphis Morning by Kevin Vigil (download below). Special thanks to Dr. Vigil for the use of this composition from his book Key Studies for Classical Guitar.
4. Perform an excerpt from a selection of your choice from the classical guitar repertoire (1-2 minutes in length).
5. Play the A Major scale in open position while alternating right-hand fingers (download below).
6. Play f# melodic minor scale with no open strings in open position while alternating right-hand fingers. (download below)
7. All of the audition requirements (introduction, interview question, required piece, free-choice piece, and scales) must be recorded in one continuous take. Do not record each element separately and edit them together.
Recording tips for guitarists:
- Use landscape view.
- Both hands must be visible in the video.
- Dress appropriately for an audition.
- Choose a place with a neutral background. (Not your unmade bed or open closet.)
About the Classical Guitar Division
Additional Information
The PAVAN Classical Guitar program helps students build upon the instruction they receive from private and classroom instruction. The instructors afford the students a wealth of experience and perspectives in both group and individual settings. Their versatility enables returning students to be as challenged and motivated as they were in their first year.
The Classical Guitar program includes instruction in both ensemble and solo repertoire, music theory, and improvisation principles. Students receive individual private lessons as well as small-group master-class lessons designed to focus on the skill sets of students with varying abilities. This individual attention is often what keeps students returning to PAVAN year after year, allowing a student to continue building upon his or her skill set. Ensemble repertoire is selected to challenge not just their guitar technique but to develop a broader sense of musicianship and artistic principles found in a collective performance experience.
The instructors provide further opportunities to hone specific skills, develop artistically, and foster a true appreciation for the arts in general, with daily ‘mini-seminars’ that focus on topics such as sound, fingering principles to connect a line, nail care, tone production and career path options in music for performers and non-performers alike.
The students will also perform both in a large ensemble setting during the final program and in a more intimate “salon” setting for solo and small groups, demonstrating the full range of their accomplishments.
Faculty
Keith Filppu
Keith Filppu is a classical guitarist and guitar teacher based in Winchester, Virginia. He is an adjunct professor of guitar at Shenandoah University, where he teaches private lessons. He is an adjunct professor of music at Lord Fairfax Community College, where he teaches private lessons, group guitar, music theory and music history courses. He also teaches guitar lessons to students of all ages at the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy and in his private studio.
For the past few years, he has been on the guitar faculty of the PAVAN Regional Governor’s School program. In addition to teaching, Keith is an active performer locally in a flute and guitar duo, the Cedar Creek Duo, and also as a soloist.
He has published two works of music with Clear Note Publications, Early American Waltzes, which consists of works he compiled and edited for solo guitar, and Cuentos De La Juventud by Enrique Granados, which Keith arranged for flute and guitar. One of his upcoming publications, an original composition for guitar trio entitled Emilio’s March, was performed at Yale University’s Guitar Extravaganza in March 2012. He has also worked as a music engraver for Clear Note Publications. Keith has written articles published in the Washington Guitar Society newsletter and Guitar Teacher magazine.
Keith holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Shenandoah University, and a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance with a minor in writing and rhetoric from James Madison University. His principle teachers are Glenn Caluda, Risa Carlson, Kevin Vigil, and Keith Stevens.
Hart Wells
William Hart Wells is the Director of Guitar at Potomac Falls High School in Sterling, VA. Originally from Kings Mountain, NC, Hart studied under Dr. Douglas James at Appalachian State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Education with a concentration in guitar pedagogy. A North Carolina Teaching Fellow scholarship recipient, Wells graduated in 1999 and began teaching K-5 general music at Granite Falls Elementary School in Granite Falls, NC and directing the guitar program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, NC.
In 2004, Mr. Wells accepted a teaching position with Loudoun County Public Schools and has since served as the Director of Guitar for Potomac Falls High School (PFHS) in Sterling, VA. In that time, the guitar program at PFHS has received much acclaim with invitational performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington DC), the National Association for Music Education's 2022 General Assembly, the Department of Education (Washington DC), the Virginia Music Educators Association Convention at the famed Homestead Resort (Hot Springs, VA), the Cathedrals of Saint Paul the Apostle and Saint John the Devine (New York City, NY), the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, MD), as well as adjudicated performances in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Orlando, the guitar students of PFHS, under Mr. Wells' direction, continue to help spread the good word of guitar education.
In 2013, Mr. Wells completed his Masters of Music in Guitar Performance at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA studying under the direction of Dr. Glenn Caluda. Mr. Wells has performed in masterclasses with Oscar Ghiglia, Eduardo Fernandez, Jason Vieaux, Bruce Holzman, Julian Gray, Matteo Mela, Stanley Yates, Andrew Zohn, among others. Mr. Wells has appeared on a cd produced by Les Productions d'Oz of the solo and ensemble
compositions of Miroslav Loncar. Wells recorded a solo composition entitled "Lullaby with Variations" that he commissioned from the composer in late 2012, and on an ensemble recording of Loncar's "Summer Salsa". A full solo cd project by Wells is planned for the coming year and news will be shared on this website!!
Widely regarded for his work with young musicians, Wells has given presentations on implementing the Loudoun County Public Schools pre-college guitar curriculum to music education and guitar majors at James Madison University and East Carolina University, and has been invited to present at the Virginia Music Educators Association Convention. He has also served as guest conductor for Chesterfield County Public Schools, Stafford County Public Schools, George Washington College Guitar Festival, and the East Carolina University Summer Guitar Workshop.
Mr. Wells is currently serving as the President-elect for the Virginia Guitar Directors Association. He is also an active and current member of the Guitar Foundation of America,
the Virginia Music Educator Association, the National Association for Music Education and serves on the Board of Directors for the Aguado Guitar Concerts of Sterling, VA.