This is the piece that got me into classical guitar…

During the summer of 1992 my family moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Holland, Michigan. I was going to begin my freshmen year at Hope College in the fall. My parents had recently purchased me an Alvarez classical guitar and my dad bought a John Williams CD. Here is me (with Christopher Parkening) with my Alvarez…

I remember laying on the ground listening to that CD and Leyenda came on. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was the most amazing piece of music my young brain had ever heard!! Was that really just one guitar?? I remember thinking, “I have GOT to learn that song!”

That fall, at Hope College, I took a beginning classical guitar class at Hope with Larry Malfroid. I remember before class one time asking him if he knew the piece. He started playing and I was totally impressed.

That piece of music literally changed my life. It was because of that piece I started learning classical guitar which, in turn, made me decide to become a music major which led me to learn composition and so and so on. Here is a version by Julian Bream that I’ve been listening to a lot lately…