Marc Siegel

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=780627" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id148.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mandorico"><U>Mandorico</U></A>   |   <B>Marc Siegel</b>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark Wills"><U>Mark Wills</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mashanda Favors"><U>Mashanda Favors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id222.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="matchbox twenty"><U>matchbox twenty</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id237.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Maybe Sunday"><U>Maybe Sunday</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merl Saunders"><U>Merl Saunders</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Melissa Ferrick"><U>Melissa Ferrick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michelle Sims"><U>Michelle Sims</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moe Black"><U>Moe Black</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morning 40 Federation"><U>Morning 40 Federation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mushroomhead"><U>Mushroomhead</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Marc Siegel</div> <div> LOCAL SPOTLIGHT</div> <div> <B>Siegel debuts first CD after a lifetime of playing</b></div> <div> By Kristi Singer</div> <div> <I>Star-News Correspondent</I></div> <div> October 18, 2002</div> <bR> <div> Many people want to make a difference, but few actually take action. Local musician and educator Marc Siegel is one of the few that has a vision and makes it happen. </div> <bR> <div> Since he moved to Wilmington from Virginia at 17, Mr. Siegel has accomplished more than most musicians. He earned his bachelor of music at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 1994, studying classical guitar with Robert Nathanson. He then received his master of music in guitar performance at East Carolina University, studying under internationally known guitarist Elliot Frank. </div> <bR> <div> While at ECU, he performed with the chamber music ensemble and toured the East Coast with a guitar quartet.</div> <bR> <div> The artist, who was born at Fort Bragg during the Vietnam War, wants to make a difference in Wilmington’s music scene. Since he began teaching at Cape Fear Community College in 1996, he’s created a jazz studies program and the CFCC Jazz Ensemble. He also teaches private lessons at the Wilmington Academy of Music.</div> <bR> <div> “I want to promote music. I feel that with the little bit I do ... is going to benefit the community and me in general and keep my habit going cause I really do love it,” Mr. Siegel said. </div> <bR> <div> Inspired to play music with his mother’s friends, Mr. Siegel picked up his first instrument – the bass guitar – at age 11. A year later he put his younger brother’s guitar to use after it gathered dust in his bedroom. </div> <bR> <div> Mr. Siegel taught himself guitar. He learned to imitate players such as Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. </div> <bR> <div> Van Halen is a far cry from Mr. Siegel’s first CD of solo classical guitar music, 416 S. Front St. (Marc Siegel Plays Latin Guitar Music), but he said that good music all comes from the same place.</div> <bR> <div> “No matter what we decide to call it, I still truly love any type of music that’s got that same amount of passion or desire behind it, whatever it is behind it that makes it good. So I don’t say one style’s better than the other,” Mr. Siegel said.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Siegel finds the challenge of playing classical or jazz guitar appealing. </div> <bR> <div> “It tends to be more complex. Getting your hands to do these various things correctly takes a lot of practice. And I guess that challenge is interesting to me,” Mr. Siegel said. </div> <bR> <div> Mr. Siegel said he’s been putting off recording a CD for years, but it finally came to fruition this year.</div> <bR> <div> “It had a life of its own. I had been in the studio several times before, recording various things, (but I) just never was happy,” Mr. Siegel said.</div> <bR> <div> He didn’t like the idea of losing creative control to a producer and being constrained by studio time, so he decided to record the album himself. What resulted was 416 S. Front St., his debut classical guitar CD. The disc includes 14 tracks recorded at the Meares House in Wilmington’s historic district at that address.</div> <bR> <div> “It’s a neat old house with high ceilings, plaster walls and wood floors. The acoustics in here are vibrant,” Mr. Siegel said.</div> <bR> <div> Some of the songs on the album are ones he always wanted to record; others he chose in the morning when he woke up.</div> <bR> <div> “A lot of it was done like that, how I felt. The CD’s very organic, it just kind of happened,” Mr. Siegel said.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Siegel is putting the final touches on a jazz CD. The eclectic album will include solo guitar pieces as well as duos and guest appearances by local jazz musicians such as Benny Hill. </div> <bR> <div> So what does this guitarist love most about playing guitar? The connection with the moment, he said.</div> <bR> <div> “Whenever I play, I go into my own world, and I’m really intensely involved with the moment, so it’s like time just fades away, and I can spend hours playing or practicing and not noticing that any time has passed. It’s the connection with the immediate -- maybe there’s some larger spiritual connection involved,” Mr. Siegel said.</div> <bR> <div> For more on Marc Siegel, log on to marcasiegel.xoasis.com </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>