Michael MacSpurren
About
- I was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario, Canada.
- Not long after I started taking guitar lessons, I started teaching myself the riffs to my favourite rock albums. My taste tends to run towards the heavier and more epic side of rock, with Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, the Scorpions, Gary Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen being my biggest influences. But I also developed a deep appreciation for newer blues artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan (then again, who hasn't?) and the late, great Jeff Healey.
- After tiring of working many menial labour jobs and wanting to further my musical studies I started taking classical guitar lessons at age 22, with the hopes of landing a successful audition at a music school. That fortunate break happened when I was accepted in the music program at Cambrian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Sudbury, Ontario in 1998. I graduated in 2001 with Honours with Distinction. While at Cambrian, I studied classical guitar with Philip Candelaria, Anne Graham, Nereo Biscaro, and Louis Trepanier. I also studied piano, conducting, music theory and received an introduction to the art of business.
- From Cambrian, I enrolled at the University of Ottawa to further broaden my musical and cultural horizons. I earned my Baccalaureate in Music from the University of Ottawa and studied composition and counterpoint with Steven Gellman, electronic recording and editing with Alyssa Ryvers, jazz arrangement with Yves Laroche and classical guitar with Patrick Roux and Louis Trepanier. I graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2005.
- I also play wedding gigs, either solo or with violinist/pianist Marlene Cruz-Lozano. Our repertoire emphasises Classical, Latin folk and Latin jazz. However, we do take requests, so don't be shy about asking!
- I played lead guitar with rock band Hoelsteen with fellow Cambrian alumni Julie and Nathaniel Preston. Even though the band is finished, you can still hear the sound clips.
- I am currently the lead guitarist and background singer for Blind Aura, an Ottawa-based hard rock band playing the music of Dio, Rainbow, Styx, Journey, and many others. We just released our first album of original music, available now on Amazon Music, Youtube Music, and other major platforms.
- I have over two dozen recording projects to my credit.
I am big on technique and theory. It's not necessary to know every scale in the book. However, improvisation, recording and rehearsing are made much easier if the musicians understand basic chord structures and are able to communicate m usical concepts clearly.
I use two methods, the Royal Conservatory of Music method and the Conservatory Canada Contemporary Idioms syllabus (both Canadian.)