Week 1: Pick a Piece!

Andre Bernier Nice work, Andre. That's a nice choice with a really pretty intro.

Andre Bernier Excellent start Andre! It looks like you're playing one of the Còrdoba Gypsy Kings cutaway guitars. Am I correct? How do you like it? 

Steve Pederson  Hello Steve; I am playing a Cordoba C7-CE that has a Canadian cedar top and rosewood back and sides.

https://www.cordobaguitars.com/guitars/c7-ce-cd/

The GK model is very similar but with a solid European spruce top and cypress back and sides.

https://www.cordobaguitars.com/guitars/gk-studio/

I tried many guitars before purchasing this one but I finally chose the look and the tone that I really liked for a good price. ($1049 CDN)

Andre Bernier Good start, Andre. As Eric pointed out, the descending bass line is a standard, however, he didn't mention 'Hit the Road, Jack'.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

BTW, theree is a very nice Renaissance version by Thomas Cutting. I have it in the Frederick Noad Renaissance book.

That sounds very good, Steve. Can I ask what version of the piece you are using? It is very different than the one I am familiar with. (It looks a lot more difficult too!) It's beautiful, though!

David Krupka Thanks David. I really appreciate it. That's a transcription I did from a copy of the original score. In his book, Narvaez includes 3 other variations after the set everyone is familiar with. I was thinking of playing them all together, and I know some performers have, but I think I like them better as a stand-alone set. I did transpose it to a key that worked better for me and changed octaves on the first and last phrases to give it more range but considering improvisation was expected from a performer at the time, I don't feel too bad about tweaking them a little, lol. And yes, I think these are a little harder than the original set. Especially the third one so it's going to take some work to get these together.

Steve Price That's very interesting, Steve! (I did realize you were playing the first of the 'three other variations'.) I agree these sound 'complete' on their own, and I don't think Narvaez' intention was for the two versions to be performed together, although, as you say, this is sometimes done. (Even Hopkinson Smith, who was, I believe, the first to record these on a vihuela, does this.) But as I understand it, the two sets are composed for differently tuned instruments (the first for a vihuela in 'A', the second for one in 'G') so if Narvaez did play them in sequence, he would have needed to have two instruments at hand! I agree with your point about improvisation in renaissance music. Often, modern editions represent an editor's more or less arbitrary decision that a particular 'original' version of a piece corresponds to what the composer intended. But many pieces have come down to us in multiple versions, suggesting that there was no real conception of playing something the 'right' way in the past. As an example, Dowland's famous 'Lachrimae Pavan' can be found in versions for both six and seven course lute, and in both G minor and A minor. Today's 'canonical' version is in G minor and requires six courses, but whether this is what Dowland actually 'intended' (if he intended anything!) is, as far I know, highly debatable. In any event, what you have done is musically successful - and that, I imagine, is the one standard that musicians of all eras would agree really counts!

David Krupka I appreciate the vote of confidence. Years ago I was interested in Renaissance music but got away from it because of what you mentioned: I expected there to be a "correct" version and that wasn't the case with Dowland or any of the others. Now that I understand music a little more (and/or maybe care less what anyone thinks), that ambiguity has kind of turned into a positive attribute so now I'm enjoying getting back to it. I'm curious to look at the Lachrimae Pavan and see what my old scores are.

I'll have to check out the Hopkinson Smith version. Even though I won't mix the variations myself, I'm curious how people approach it. 

Thanks again for the feedback. It means a lot.

Steve Price What a beautiful piece, Steve, and a very nice arrangement! I love the voicings, and you do a great job bringing them out. 

Steve Price This is very interesting, Steve. 
I had played the 'standard' Guardeme las Vacas when I first started classical guitar. I never knew that there were other variations. (I wonder if that was a Segovia thing?) I am interested to hear the other variations.

Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. It was actually something Narvaez wrote, but Segovia was the first I heard of to play one of the additional variations. He included the one I played here but he changed it up a bit.

Romy This is the first time I've heard this piece, and I must say, it's very engaging! I can see why you say it's fun to play - the fingers get to dance across the whole fingerboard! I look forward to hearing the 'B' section.

Romy Very nice Romy. I really enjoyed your choice of musical piece. You already have a good control and it will just get better during the month.

Romy What a fun song Romy! It looks like you're really enjoying playing it - like you say. I'm curious what kind of guitar you're playing? 

Romy That was great, Romy. I agree with David, this sounds like a very fun piece. I have heard of Vincent Lindsay-Clark but I am not sure where. Looking forward to your next post.

Dale Needles Hi Dale. I don't seem to have any sound from this video. I've just been listening to some music on Youtube so my sound is definitely working. I tried pasting the video URL direct into Google to take me into Youtube and I still didn't get any sound. Could you confirm there is sound on the video?  I'm looking forward to hearing this.

Derek Hi Derek, I can confirm there is sound. Also, Eric was able to get sound as well. However,  I did notice that the volume on my computer needs to be turned up high so try that. Let me know if that works.