🎶 Latin American Music Challenge | Week 4

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary  Nice playing on this Nijwm!

On the chords that are played after the chromatic sequences, I noticed you play the bass note and then complete the arpeggiated chord.  You should play the chord without the bass note separated( use one complete gesture).

Some suggestions ( If I may):  Parts of this piece can tend to get boring , so we need to make it more interesting. For example, use different tone colors on repeats of the chromatic passages,  vibrato in delicate moments, and more dynamics.  

Although the notes of this piece may be easy to play, performing it well requires careful listening to keep the audience engaged.  I suggest listening to some top artists for ideas you can incorporate into your interpretation.

Barney Thanks a lot for the detailed and valuable feedback, Barney. Now that I listened back to the recording, the separation of the bass sounds a little too jarring. One of my problems is with the sweeping 6 string arpeggios, especially with the single thumb stroke. HVL doesn't make it any easier with his open strings in unusual places like the second string while fretting other strings! Therefore, there's the issue of weird finger shapes and hand positions, plus string buzzing and muting.

It's a surprisingly easier piece to learn among the 5 preludes to learn. Technically, I have problems with shifting in this piece as in many others. I've played no.1 for ages, for eg., but it's so far from my repertoire finished list (not that I have any final finished repertoire anyway).

I've watched a lot of recordings on YouTube. To implement what I learnt from them is sometimes difficult for me. I'm often casual with my playing and end up disappointed with the final product, something I'm trying to overcome. Not having a solid understanding of harmony and rhythm is a problem for me sometimes, besides the biophysical aspects. For this piece in particular, I need to do very slow and deliberate practice. It's one of those pieces that are easy to learn but difficult to play well.

Dynamics and vibrato have been my really weak points. But I think the issue is more about relaxation and confidence with technique,  which would allow more ability in paying more attention to musical details like vibrato and dynamics. No one told me classical guitar is so hard, and now I'm too into it😄. Kidding aside, I really appreciate your feedback🙏 

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Very nice, Nijwm. Really nice tone and very expressive. I actually like the sound of the bass notes as grace notes before the chord, and I had to check my two versions to make sure that wasn't the way it was written in either of them. I think it gives that section a little more interest, like a separate voice, and more of a subtle off-beat Brazilian-rhythmic feel. Barney is certainly more knowledgeable about this than I am, but I'll be incorporating this into my playing of it.

Steve Price Thank you, Steve, I'm glad you liked it. I tried to incorporate Douglas Lora and Isaac Bustos's lessons into this piece.

Basically, the A section's fingerings are mostly Lora's while the B section is Bustos's. For the B section in particular, I like Bustos' fingerings more. They're mostly in lower positions of the neck.

Although in my own experience, getting better tones and vibrato is much trickier in the first few frets of the neck, I preferred Bustos' fingerings for the B section as it allows more resonance and portamento than the usual barred positions. It's even easier to play and allows more emotional expression, even though I could've executed them better.

For the A section, I chose mostly Lora's fingerings for the same reasons of resonance, except for  measure 18 where he plays harmonics for the D string on top of the 12th fret. Overall, I think it's a beautiful piece and very approachable for amateurs like me.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Practice each measure very slowly, observing your movements (both RH and LH) and sound to master the technique, and then revisit to consider the other musical aspects.

Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise. do you mean, like in terms of dynamic shaping or legato between the two strings? I can try to improve on both, of course. Right now, I'm thinking a lot of how can I use more vibrato, how I can use more dynamic variation in terms of the harmonic sequence in that part, legato connection. I want to bring a meditative, melancholic feel to that B part, especially. Am I going in the right direction?

Blaise Laflamme I think I know what you mean and it makes perfect sense. I'm not very informed in harmony and musical concepts. But your wonderful advices have given me food for thought and I'll try to use them in my playing. Thanks, Blaise.

Ron Thank you, Ron. Advice and feedback is always valuable and much appreciated.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Very nicely played. I really like your sweet tone on this piece, but I agree with Barney some variation of tone color would be nice. Also, you might want to check out Carlevaro's edition of his Guitar Masterclass on Villa-Lobos Five Preludes. It is published by Chanterelle. It has some good insights into Villa-Lobos' music. Calevaro studied directly with Villa-Lobos and owned several of Villa-Lobos' manuscripts.

Dale Needles Thank you, Dale. I'll definitely try to get hold of that masterclass. I've actually checked out Carlevaro and Bream playing this piece on YouTube. They're definitely masters and pioneers of what we follow today.

I've been thinking about tone variation, dynamics and phrasing a lot lately. Understanding how to use them and actually using them is quite a challenge for me, but I'm working on it. Personally, I want to use timbre or tone colour very subtly and not too dramatically, especially in this piece, where the B part is very poetic and lyrical. But that's just my intuitive interpretation.