With just a few more strums until the end of the semester, Patrick Rafferty, a classical guitar instructor at Southeast Missouri State University, is preparing for his solo recital. Rafferty has been preparing for this recital since February and spends up to four hours per day practicing the pieces that he will perform.

Rafferty will perform several guitar pieces that are popular in the realm of classical guitar. In honor of the end of the semester, one of the pieces he will perform is entitled "Summertime" by George Gershwin. The concert also features pieces from different origins. Rafferty has selected a variety of arrangements by a Japanese composer and a Mexican composer. He will conclude his recital with a set of four Spanish dances by Francisco Tárrega.

"Other than the arrangement of 'Summertime,' the other ones are all well-known works for classical guitar," Rafferty said. "Anybody who is familiar with our repertoire knows all of those pieces, and they're all well known because they are all pretty good."

Rafferty chose these pieces because they are popular pieces to perform for graduate school auditions, and he wants his current students to be able to see what they will be performing in the future. They are also pieces that Rafferty has had experience with and played before.

"I have several students who in the future are going to be playing some of these pieces for grad school auditions and things like that. I've actually played them before and wanted to revisit them and make sure that I had good fingerings in addition for my students who will be playing them," Rafferty said. "I think it's most advantageous to them just to see all of the preparation and the process of getting all of these pieces ready for performance and how to deal with them on stage."

Although this concert will be beneficial to his students, the solo recital will be open to the public. General admission to the concert is $10 to the public and $3 for Southeast students. The concert has a running time of approximately an hour starting at 7:30 p.m. on May 8 in the Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck Recital Hall.

"The concert is certainly open to the public and [I] expect there to be quite a few people from the general public there," Rafferty said. "I think it's a great program for anyone who just wants to hear among the more challenging and enjoyable pieces for solo guitar."