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About Us from 1969
Guitarnotes™ is the trading name of the Spanish Guitar Centre, Nottingham (UK), an independent company not affiliated to any other establishment.
Our story began in 1969 when the Spanish Guitar Centre was founded by the late Robin Pearson(1941-83) in premises on Clarendon Street in Nottingham. Robin was a well-known recitalist and teacher who had previously managed a similar establishment in Cardiff for Michael Watson of the Bristol Spanish Guitar Centre. Robin returned to his home town and after a few years in Clarendon Street found the business had outgrown the original premises so in 1975 moved to the location on Nottingham Road which was to serve as the business's headquarters for the next 40 years.
Robin & Graham Wade Duo | Robin in solo concert © Graham Wade
Robin was a much sought after teacher in the days when quality guitar tuition was hard to find. Pupils frequently travelled from far and wide and amongst these many went on to professional careers of their own. The young Nicola Hall, who achieved international acclaim as a recording artist for The Decca Record Company in the 1990's, was the recipient of a bursary from the City of Derby to study with Robin at the Centre. Similarly, a young student from Barcelona, Maria Dolors Cerda studied with Robin for her professional guitar qualifications who later went on to establish with local colleagues a highly successful music school, Ritme i So, in her home city which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
During this period Robin also composed and had published a number of successful works for guitar: La Guitarra Flamenca, Guitar Calendar, Side by Side (duets) which are still played and enjoyed by many guitar students to this day.
In 1979 he was joined in partnership by RNCM Post-Graduate and FLCM Catherine Dickinson with whom he was to share a successful duet partnership performing regularly around the country and on BBC radio and television.
The Centre became the focus of classical guitar in the English Midlands promoting many well-known international performers in concert(Carlos Bonell, Evangelos & Liza, Ricardo Iznaola, Laurie Randolph, Cheryl Grice etc), assisting luthiers such as Michael Gee & Kenneth Roberts in establishing their careers (also hosting Ken Roberts' workshop for several years) and building up an unrivalled stock of specialist print music from around the world for which Robin published his first mail order catalogue in 1981.
Following his untimely death in 1983, the Centre was continued by Catherine who after much hardship working alone, was joined in 1984 by Andrew Liepins an accomplished player and keen guitar aficionado, who had recently completed a post graduate course of study at the CLCM with Graham Wade.
Andrew was to add a substantial supplement to Robin's catalogue in 1985 and then develop it further with several editions of his own Guitarist's Repertoire Guide. Since then the business has diversified and developed into a truly international retailer, dispatching goods to most countries worldwide. It was during this time that the Spanish Guitar Centre re-branded as Guitarnotes™ not only to reflect the importance of printed guitar music to its core business, but to maintain a distinct identity from other unaffiliated businesses in the UK of a similar name active at this time.
This period also saw the further promotion of both upcoming and established talent with opportunities of a performance platform for graduate students and others in the Guitar Centre's intimate cellar recitals. Guitarists including Decca recording artist Nicola Hall, Australian RNCM graduate Carolyn Kidd, Icelander Arnaldur Arnarson, RAM graduate Fiona Richardson among others gave well-received concerts to enthusiastic packed houses. There were also collaborations with BBC Radio 3 at this time who recorded a number of SGC promoted concerts for broadcast by international artists such as Ichiro Suzuki(Japan) and Goran Sollscher(Sweden). A truly golden age!
The 1990's also saw the emergence of the Spanish Guitar Centre as the appointed exclusive distributor for a number of diverse specialist UK and international guitar music publishers, a role which continues to this day with their appointment in 2019 to distribute EEE(Cuba), publishers of the music of Leo Brouwer.
It was also a busy time for exhibitions and workshops with activities around the country including Guitar Symposia at the Barbican(London), EGTA Conferences(Cambridge), Guitar Summer Schools and weekend courses (Horncastle, West Dean, Pulborough, Cambridge, Hatherop Castle, ABRSM (RNCM) etc.
Catherine too was a much sought after teacher with a wide catchment area of students including one young bursary recipient who made a monthly round trip of over 300 miles from her home in Northumberland!
She was also invited by the ABRSM to act as Moderator for the innovative 1997 guitar syllabus, the first to be constructed along lines recommended by EGTA. This was an arduous, frequently thankless role which involved cross-checking works for consistency across grades as well as providing unacknowledged fingerings for the two books of scales and arpeggios.
Following the nationwide decline of high street retailing with the change to on-line shopping, in December 2015, after 40 years at their Nottingham Road address the centre relocated to a newly purposed site in Nottingham solely as a mail-order business. Whilst there are no retail premises for customers to visit, a home trial & delivery service for guitar sales is available (T's & C's apply)
The Centre today maintains one of the largest specialist selections of music for the classical guitar anywhere, with many thousands of titles in stock all of which are available online on this website in more dynamic detail than was ever possible with a print catalogue. Andrew is justifiably acknowledged for his broad knowledge of the printed guitar music repertoire. His commitment and efficiency are awesome in providing a matchless international mail order service. Catherine meanwhile, is the administrative rock behind the business essential for any company to thrive whilst continuing her busy teaching commitments with private pupils.
