Se Ela Perguntar by Dilermando Reis: The Latin American Style
Heya! I had such a wonderful time on my last livestream presenting Villa-Lobos' Prelude No. 5 to everyone. It was my first live lesson, and I loved the experience. Thanks to everyone who wrote with ideas for further lessons! I've decided to do another lesson on a Latin-American composer, but this time something a bit different. If you haven't heard the piece yet, please listen to it on youtube. There's a beautiful version by David Russell that will be well worth your time! If –like me– you get hooked, I hope to see you at the lesson!
All best, Emmanuel
Dilermando Reis was a notable Brazilian guitarist and composer. Amongst his works, Se Ela Perguntar stands out as a stunning concert favourite. Quintessentially Latin-American in style, its serene and melancholic lines invite us to pull out all the stops in our playing to turn a seemingly simple piece into a moving rendition. A recurrent theme allows us to explore ideas about creativity in performance and the piece's waltz-like rhythm begs us to bring our best rubato to the game. Join Emmanuel Sowicz as he unpicks Reis' music in each of these aspects and more.
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/reis-se-ela-preguntar
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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I love this piece and can't wait for your lesson! I literally was just playing it this morning!
Here are a few questions:
- I love the way many performers use rubato in this piece (and other pieces by Reis). Any tips on how to do this effectively in this Brazilian style?
- There seem to be a lot of sixths and ninths used in the melody. Is this typical of Brazilian music? Should we bring out these "non-chord" tones? Rest-stroke? Hold them longer?
- Do you have any idea where the title comes from?
See you on Tuesday!
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Eric Phillips thank you so much for your thoughtful questions!
Afraid I forgot to address these directly (though we covered some of these ideas). Just in case, I'll give you my ideas in writing here:
I love the way many performers use rubato in this piece (and other pieces by Reis). Any tips on how to do this effectively in this Brazilian style?
Yes! I believe rubato is a tool we have as performers to shape the music. That is, to emphasise some things and give a little less emphasis to others. As such, if we constantly use rubato to emphasise every single little bit as something special, they all cease to be special. I'd advocate for balancing the use of rubato with some non-rubato (or very little) in other sections. In this piece it will allow us to create a contrast between the most 'sung' passages and others in which the accompaniment has a clear waltz beat to it (for example, bar 3 or all of line 4)... a dialogue between song and dance, for this piece seems to be both at the same time.
Beyond that and following on from the idea of Latin-American music having a special kind of expressive intensity, I'd say do explore how far you can take your rubato before it 'breaks'. I've found that rubato is most effective when built upon some underlying pulse or beat (particularly in something dance-inspired like this). So be adventurous and see just how much you are able to push it until the pulse becomes obscured.
There seem to be a lot of sixths and ninths used in the melody. Is this typical of Brazilian music? Should we bring out these "non-chord" tones? Rest-stroke? Hold them longer?Great question! I agree – Brazilian music does seem to benefit from wonderful dissonances in the melody. You can certainly find this feature in so much other music, but hear it serves as yet another aspect that enriches the expression of the music. By using these dissonances (often appoggiaturas) you delay musical resolution and therefore keep interest going ('we haven't finished just yet... there's more!').
I agree with you on this one – you can certainly bring out these dissonances by emphasising them. This can be done by playing them a little louder (so apoyando is a great suggestion, though you can also do louder with rest stroke) or a little longer as you've pointed out. Other parameters that could help are pitch (so, vibrato!) and timbre (perhaps a subtly 'edgier' sound for harsh dissonances).
Do you have any idea where the title comes from?You probably already know it means 'If She Asks'. Beyond that, I haven't yet been able to find a back story for the piece. If you come across anything, do share!!
Thanks again for your questions! Hope this may have been of some use:)
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Emmanuel Thank you for the superb lesson and for your thoughtful responses here, Emmanuel. Keep these great lessons coming!
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Emmanuel I hope you don't mind, but I made a quick video of me playing the piece, incorporating some of the ideas you gave us. It's pretty slow, as it's still not completely in my fingers yet. I find that whenever I finish playing this piece, I always want to play it one more time because it's just so beautiful!
Update: After Emmanuel's very helpful suggestions, I have recorded the piece again. It's still pretty slow, but (I think) there is a better balance between melody and accompaniment. I deleted the old video.
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Thank you so much for sharing, Eric!
This is great and also great to see some of the ideas we talked about yesterday in action. I really enjoy seeing that your fingerings are allowing you to connect the phrases with such ease. As a listener, it's very easy to follow the melody in your performance as you take us on this 4-minute journey. I've emailed you a few small ideas I thought you might find interesting:)
Thanks again for sharing your music with us!
Emmanuel
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Eric Phillips lovely , Eric. Very sweet rendition of the piece. Thank you for sharing.
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Great piece. Looking forward to hearing your approach . It’s such lovely music and we all love to play it. The rubato, as Eric mentioned, is the thing here. It seems to play such an important role in this music. I realize that I personally tend to ‘judge’ interpreters by their ‘under-’ or ‘over’doing the rubato. Matter of timing. In this respect, it’s great to check the ‘original’ interpretation as well https://youtu.be/SxKLtmLFStY
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joosje What a great recording! Plenty of rubato.
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Eric Phillips the art of rubato. I’m all eyes and ears.
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joosje Absolutely! As rhythm (and therefore timing and rubato) are such a key part of how we perceive music, I'd say it's definitely high up there on the list of priorities for this piece if we want to give it intensity of expression. Rubato is such a wonderful way to shape music – it's an opportunity we mustn't miss out on as performers!
Reis' own recording of his piece is certainly very illuminating and invites us to be bold and adventurous. As I mentioned in response to Eric, I encourage you to try things to the extreme. You can always dial it back a bit if you've gone too far, but it would be a shame to hold back for fear of 'being wrong'.
Another idea I forgot to reply to Eric is how rubato originally means 'stolen'... Barenboim has a wonderful clip on youtube speaking how in our modern society we expect for what's stolen to be given back (https://youtu.be/N3mu7BNN0FY). I think this metaphor is quite a good guide to managing rubato: steal a little time here, and give it back there... play rubato hear, but not so much there.
Happy 'stealing' (and giving back)!
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Forgot to say, if it wasn't obvious... Reis' performance is amazing!! Thanks for posting that here joosje for others to hear:)
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Emmnuel, thank you so much for another excellent lesson. You definitely covered all the issues I found challenging with the piece: repetition variety, intensity of expression, vibrato, legato, tension and resolution, vocal bits vs. dance, European waltz with Latin American flavor, etc.
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Bill Young Very glad to hear that, Bill. I hope you'll enjoy playing this gorgeous piece of music!
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BTW, please correct the typo in the title. It's "Perguntar" instead of "Preguntar". Thanks
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Thanks for spotting that one Bill !
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Looking for the score; has it posted yet?
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Thank you Emmanuel for a wonderful lesson, the fingering section was particularly helpful. I am now learning this piece, it is haunting and so expressive, thank you for showing how this piece demands both intensity and sensitivity of the expression
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margaret macarthur really glad to hear!
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Emmanuel Where is the annotated score?
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
