Jason Waldron Biography

 My earliest musical recollections...

...originated through hearing my father play the violin in the fifties in Tasmania. He was a fine amateur violinist, classically trained, but unable to follow a solid classical path due to the isolation of Tasmania and the financial necessities of the time. We had a player piano and from a very early age I would pedal away playing the piano roles of Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, etc. This music along with that played by my father and his associates laid the foundation for my own musical appreciation.

My series of books for L.T.P. Publications "Popular Classics of the Great Composers" (refer to Publications) are the direct result of the knowledge gained during those early years. I firmly believe that this music, so familiar to virtually the entire Western world, lays the basis for the love of music for most performers, even though they may later specialize in a particular period or field of music.

My introduction to Classical guitar...
...came later when my family moved to Adelaide, South Australia. I had played steel string guitar, blues, country style, etc. for several years until I heard a recording of flamenco guitar which captured my imagination and I immediately began searching for a flamenco teacher in Adelaide.

A local music shop recommended John Dellattore, well known Adelaide classical guitar teacher. John was not a flamenco Guitarist but upon hearing him playing the standard classical repertoire I was soon convinced that this was the music I truly wanted to play. As a member of the Adelaide Classical Guitar Society I met most of the guitar fraternity, including Joan Smythe and John Boyce, both important teachers in the early years of the Adelaide classical guitar scene.

In early 1970...
...the eminent Sydney guitarist Robert Blackett visited Adelaide and it was he who told me that a prominent English guitarist and teacher had recently immigrated to Australia and had set up a guitar school called the "Sydney Spanish Guitar Centre" based upon the famous school that had been established in the early fifties in London by John Williams' father Len. This teacher was Dr. Peter Calvo. Soon after I traveled to Sydney and met Peter who, after listening to my playing and making very kind comments, stated that with suitable work over a period of five or six years I should de able to pursue a concert career.

This came as quite a surprise as I thought of myself as being only a step away, let alone six years, however I soon came to respect Peter's ideas of the importance of a thorough technical background, such as that he had attained during many years study in London with Len Williams. Peter's analytical approach to teaching had a lot to do with a fact that he had a PHD in Economics and was currently a lecturer in Economics at the University of New South Wales and applied many of the concepts used in this other field to his guitar teaching.

Summer Class
Another important event in 1970 was the Summer School given by the magnificent Venezuelan guitarist Alirio Diaz at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria. This event brought together guitarists from all over Australia and forged friendships and links which established a strong classical guitar scene which had hitherto been fragmented throughout the country.

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