George C. Krick: A Guitarist Who Taught Through the Printed Page
George C. Krick helped other guitarists in more than one room. He performed and taught in person, but his magazine writing also reached players who could never attend a lesson with him. His articles discussed practice, repertoire, professional musicianship and the practical problem of finding music to play. They preserve the concerns of American guitar students during a period of rapid musical change. Krick, “Practice Hints for Guitarists,” 1941; Krick, “Guitar Music,” 1942
Krick appears in Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar in East Tennessee as a pupil and chronicler of William Foden. His own career deserves attention alongside the history he helped record.
From student to performer and teacher
Washington University’s archive describes Krick as a German-born concert guitarist who came to St. Louis at sixteen and studied with Foden. He later performed with his teacher in New York, appeared independently, and directed a music studio in Germantown, Philadelphia. In later life he returned to St. Louis. Washington University: George C. Krick Archive
His teaching career lasted long enough to connect several generations. A 1960 Guitar News notice describes a dinner given by pupils to mark his sixtieth year of teaching. It also notes students whose principal professions lay outside music. The guitar community around him included people making music alongside other careers, an important part of the instrument’s social history. Guitar News, March–April 1960, p. 13
Practice as an act of attention
In his 1941 article “Practice Hints for Guitarists,” Krick criticized mechanical repetition without a clear purpose. A player should understand what an exercise is intended to accomplish and choose material appropriate to the problem. He linked the work of the hands with active thought. Etude, October 1941, pp. 717–18
That is an educational principle rather than a shortcut. Repeating a passage can reinforce an unwanted movement just as readily as a useful one. Purposeful practice makes the musical or technical goal explicit, so the player can recognize whether the repetition is helping. Krick’s writing treats the student as a listener and problem-solver, not simply as a pair of fingers to be drilled.
An instrument with several working lives
Krick also wrote during a period when the word “guitar” could refer to markedly different professional roles. His 1938 article on plectrum guitar discusses dance-band playing, steel strings, picks, sight-reading and harmonic knowledge. He regarded a working ensemble guitarist as a musician who needed fluency across the fingerboard, rather than a player who knew only a few chord shapes. Etude, January 1938, pp. 61, 64
His comments reflect the tastes and assumptions of his period, including a preference for the concert tone of classical guitar. They are historical evidence of a discussion, not a modern verdict on which kind of guitar is superior. Particularly useful is his encouragement for advanced plectrum players to explore classical technique and repertoire. Different instruments and musical jobs could still have something to teach one another. “The Plectrum Guitar”
Repertoire is also a question of access
In October 1942 Krick addressed readers struggling to obtain suitable guitar music. Wartime disruption had affected imports of European publications, and he urged publishers to consider American composers and arrangers. He mentioned a visit to Foden, who still had substantial music in manuscript. “Guitar Music,” Etude, October 1942, pp. 713–15
This gives repertoire history a practical dimension. Music cannot circulate merely because it has been composed. Someone must edit, publish, distribute, preserve or otherwise make it available. Krick used his column to connect readers’ needs with work that might otherwise remain inaccessible.
His own collection eventually served another generation of readers. Washington University received twenty-one bound volumes of guitar music from his family in 1963. The archive includes works by composers such as Coste, Giuliani, Mertz, Regondi and Tárrega, alongside Foden. Its preservation allows the repertoire gathered by a working guitarist to remain part of the public record. Washington University archive
A broader connection to KCG
No direct Knoxville association is established here. Krick’s story instead illuminates work familiar to a guitar society: helping learners develop, finding worthwhile repertoire, and encouraging thoughtful exchange across musical interests. It connects naturally with Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, and Larry Long, while preserving the different places and circumstances in which each worked.
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