"Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart." Andres Segovia
About Marty
North Carolina based guitarist, teacher, arranger and composer Marty Edwards has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Some of which include first place in the Francis S. Hutchins Award for musical composition, the Carlisle Keller Macdonald Scholarship for music study in Austria, and the Sherwood Hill Award for high potential in the field of music. For his graduate studies, he was awarded the Samuel Griffen Seawell and Patsy Moore Seawell Fund and the Marjory J. Flint Scholarship for Music. Additionally, he is a member of many prestigious honors societies including Mortar Board and Vincit Qui Patitur.
As a guitarist, audiences around the globe for over a two decades have enjoyed the artistic sensitivity of Marty Edwards' performances. He has been a featured soloist on numerous concert series and continues to maintain that busy roster today. Apart from his solo career, he has enjoyed the stage with other fine musicians ranging form singers and choirs to jazz, blues, rock, bluegrass, and orchestral ensembles. He studied jazz guitar under Dr. Lewis. H. Dickert, bluegrass under Al White, and classical under guitar Joseph Pecoraro, John Hedger, and Eva Moser-Reitsamer. Mr. Edwards has also studied guitar applications of Alexander Technique with Dr. Ann Rhodes and has participated in research projects covering the design, construction, and acoustical properties of the guitar with Dr. Gary Mahoney.
A passionate teacher, Marty has been educating musicians of all ages and skill levels since 2002. In his undergraduate, he held the position of music theory teaching assistant under Professor Robert Lewis at Berea College and served as Graduate Assistant under Joseph Pecoraro at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He is a registered guitar teacher with the Suzuki Association of America and is highly committed to continuing his training and development in that area. He is also trained teacher for the Music Together early childhood music education program. Presently, Marty is an instructor for the Young Guitarists Suzuki Program, Redeemer School, and Davie ACE. He has also served as the music teacher for Arts For Life at Brenner Children's Hospital and directed the guitar ensemble at Knollwood Baptist Church .
Mr. Edwards holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from the Berea College and a Masters of Music in Guitar Performance with emphasis in Pedagogy, History and Literature from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Marty is also a successful visual artist and has received numerous top awards for his work such as the Best in Show category from the North Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs Statewide Arts Festival. His paintings have been featured in the annual Kentucky publication Carillon and on the cover of Joseph Pecoraro’s recent CD release Perennials.