Guest Artist Mark Sganga 2011

Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 Improv Clinic and Concert. Mark is shown playing guitar with several students.

What was the Sganga 2011 Workshop & Concert?

Mark Sganga, the 2009 International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion, is often in the Midwest in September for Winfield, Kansas’s Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival. While in the area, Sganga was kind enough to come to Wichita, Kansas to work with Vance Music students. Vance Music works hard to bring in musicians of a high caliber who are active in their field to work with their students so that they are able to experience a wide-range of music, and talk with professional musicians who perform on a regular basis.

Mark Sganga’s Background

As a renowned guitarist, vocalist, and composer, Mark Sganga has traveled the world performing and / or recording with other acclaimed musicians such as: Les Paul, Herbie Hancock, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Larry Coryell, John Oates, and many more. He has been hailed “one of the top guitarists in the New York area,” by Brian Wilson (WOR-AM Radio) and “a bright new light in the Jazz/Brazilian music scene” by John Heidt (Vintage Guitar Magazine).

Student Opportunities at the Sganga 2011 Workshop

At the Vance Music / Sganga 2011 workshop, Mark Sganga worked with students of all ages, abilities, and a variety of instruments on improvisation (the creation of music in real time), South American musical styles, as well as cover songs. Sganga discussed the importance of the function of chords within a key, and also demonstrated how to read and play off of a chord chart. Later in the workshop, students were able to try playing off of a chord as a group.

The workshop was held at First Baptist Church in the Chapel at 6:45pm. The full Vance Music staff was able to participate and students on many instruments including violin, saxophone, guitar, voice, cello, bass, and piano participated. Many family members and friends of Vance Music students attended the clinic. After the workshop, students were able to chat with Sganga, receive autographs, and snap pictures to commemorate the experience.

Listening at the Sganga 2011 Concert

Following the break, Sganga put on a solo concert containing pieces of multiple genres, including Bluegrass, Bossa Nova, and Samba. The Mark Sganga 2011 concert included some of his original compositions featured on his albums, as well as some well-known cover songs.

Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 concert at First Baptist Church. Sganga is singing with students in the improv clinic.
Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 concert at First Baptist Church. Two guitar students and a mandolin student listen in the improv clinic.
Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 concert at First Baptist Church. Young violin students listen in the improv clinic with their mother.
Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 concert at First Baptist Church. Students set up for the improv clinic.
Vance Music presented the Mark Sganga 2011 concert at First Baptist Church. The studio guitar teacher, Wynona Vance, changes a string.