Hi my name's Cindy & I live in Aotearoa New Zealand .
I recently started listening to the podcast of Paul McCartney A Life in Lyrics on Pushkin and am loving hearing the stories behind the songs I grew up listening to and am still listening to.
I was really taken by the story behind Jenny Wren / Blackbird and Paul relating his & George's party piece Bach's Bouree. My husband Darren plays classical guitar and I knew he had learned that piece of music so I of course "suggested" he listen to the Jenny Wren/ Blackbird podcast session. Darren loved it and really enjoyed the idea of Paul & George "making up the bits they didn't know". Darren then related a story about learning the Bouree which I thought I'd share with you here as Darren related it to me
"...over 30 years ago I began learning classical guitar instruction with a brilliant man and classical guitar teacher called Joe McCartney (yes we wondered if Joe's a relative as to our ear he sounds like he was from Liverpool originally and he has amazing McCartney eyebrows 🤠but Joe never made any claims to be) in my home town of Levin (New Zealand). After initially taking me through Aaron Shearers classical guitar technique volume one, Joe handed me the Bach Bouree ( I just heard on the Pushkin podcast) to take home and learn. I returned the following week and diligently played it through as was the expectation. Joe quietly listened until I was finished and when I finished playing it, He smiled warmly and said "I was expecting you to just learn the guitar one part but okay you played both guitar parts thats a first." I had been so focused on the notes I didn't notice it was a duet with two separate guitar parts. Well that explained the couple of awkward stretches. Cool to hear the same Bouree connected to Paul McCartney's inspiration for Blackbird. 🤟"
Hope this was an ok story to share.
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