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The Prince of Guitaristan

Rami Vamos uses his gift of music to bring a smile to your face

November 14, 2006

Brooklyn musician Rami Vamos is a guitarist and composer whose accolades include top prizes at the Junior American String Teachers Association Competition, Portland Classical Guitar Competition, The Rantucci Classical Guitar Competition, as well as the Ohio String Teachers Association Competition. A graduate of two of the most prestigious music institutions, Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music, Rami’s compositions have been performed by some of the most admired performers on today’s scene including Marc Teicholz, Keith Underwood, Amy Oshiro, Mark Stewart, The Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo, and the Turtle Island String Quartet.

Rami, however, isn’t your typical stoic classical musician. When listening to music such as 12 Silly Songs- which he wrote with Randall Avers and are performed frequently by the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo- one can’t help but smile, amused by the wit and comedy Rami ingeniously employs. Also a composer for the stage, Rami’s musicals for children- bearing clever titles such as The Amazing Tale of Prince Pickles of Guitaristan, Once Upon A Time Signature, and Introducing: Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry- are concoctions of creativity, imagination, humor, and education that speak to both children and adults. Urban Guitar spoke to Rami about his recent projects.

Urban Guitar: First, I have to say that your material is extremely entertaining, loads of fun, and creative. Can you tell me about your writing process?

Rami Vamos: Thank you for all those compliments. I'm not sure exactly how to answer this first question. Each show, song, or story I write seems to come about in different ways. Lately, I have been getting a lot of commissions with very specific criteria. A library in Westchester recently called and asked me to write a 25-minute musical about a radio show that encourages children to read. So they basically handed me my idea. Other times, I’ll just be sitting around my apartment with nothing to do, and I suddenly might say "Hey, what if I wrote a show about a radio show encouraging kids to read"... Ok, so that was the Library in Westchester's idea, but I wasn't getting anything right now.

Urban Guitar: How do they develop?

Rami Vamos: After I have an idea, or a general plot for a show, I will often write a few of the songs. I like to make a really good song and then fit that portion of the prose around it. It gives the illusion that I am a better songwriter. People assume that the story is written first, and then they slap their hands together with glee and exclaim, "That is the perfect song for this story!" Recently I have been writing fairy tales to 19th century classical music. This is a bit more difficult. The object is to make a piece of music by Dvorak, for example, sound like a soundtrack to my story about dragons (Something that would surely incite Dvorak to try and strangle me). In order to accomplish this, I have to listen to a few short phrases of music over and over again while improvising text. Every once in a while I get something good and write it down. This gives the story an improvised quality. People in fact often don't realize that these stories are not improvised, but rather took me millions of hours. They think I am a genius. I don't tell them because I like it when people think that. Others don't know who Dvorak is and think I wrote his piano quintets. I like it when people think that, too.

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