The Women Composers Challenge Week One
Welcome to our latest community-driven challenge! In this challenge, you are invited to work on music by women composers. Whether it be a historical composer like Catharina Josepha Pratten, or a contemporary composer like our very own Ashley Lucero, let's take a dive into this music which certainly deserves more attention in the guitar community.
So, the goal is to choose a piece (or several pieces), and to work on it throughout the course of the challenge, posting videos or audio files of your progress along the way.
Or maybe you are a woman composer, and you would like to take this opportunity to share some of your work with the community.
We have never discussed how long these community-driven challenges should last, but it seems to me that our usual four weeks is fitting. That would mean the challenge will end on Saturday, May 3rd. I will post a new discussion for each week of the challenge.
If you are looking for a place to start your search and pique your interest, Candice Mowbray has an excellent website on the subject. Here is a link.
If any beginners would like some suggestions for your playing level, feel free to ask the community by posting a message here. If you prefer to ask me personally, just use the TB messaging system.
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Pratten - Forgotten
I will get things started with this increasingly well-known piece. It is one of the few works by a woman composer for which we have a lesson here at TB. (It is a highly recommended lesson, in fact, by Alexandra Whittingham.)
I have played this many times before, so I thought it would be an easy way to kick start the challenge. I have played many works by Pratten, and I would like to use this challenge to bring some of them up to a performance level, and perhaps learn a few new ones as well.
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Eric Phillips awesome playing as usual but the is the video seems a bit shakey?
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don You're right, it is shaky. Not sure why, it was my usual set up. Maybe it was my intense vibrato!
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Eric Phillips hahah.
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Eric Phillips Very nice, Eric. I have a book with one of her pieces that I hope to have playable at some point.
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Eric Phillips great performance Eric. It looks like a small vibration of the table that shakes slightly the screen of your laptop (or your camera). Beside that vibration the performance is exceptional. Bravo
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great challenge! Looking forward to discover more music. Been a while since I participate in one. I'll to record one over the weekend.
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I bought this music sheet last night only to realized I had actually bought it before
. I had some time to work on it today but for some reason, I cannot get pass the first page because I was so stuck with the melody that I kept repeating it My first try on this beautiful piece by Laura Snowden - Song for Maria.
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don This is so beautiful, Don! In fact, it's so beautiful that you bought it twice.
I love it when some bit of music captivates us so much that we cannot stop playing it over and over. That happens to me a lot.
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don This is going to be really good. And I wish I could say I'd only bought the same piece twice one time.
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don what a great choice Don. Laura has so many great compositions. I think I will look at what she has for my skills level.
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don Beautifully played, really soothing and sweet for the ears and the heart. This piece reminded me of Cavatina for some reason.
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don A beautiful piece! Btw, who hasn't bought the same thing twice? I've done it with scores, books, CDs - and who knows what else. Sometimes buying a second copy is a lot easier than trying to find something I know I put somewhere ...
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Question: If I play a piece that Susanna Hoffs of The Bangle co-wrote (and the Bangle performed), does that count?
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Marc Adler I say yes! Trust me, there are no challenge police here to make sure our choices qualify. If anyone has music you want to play, by all means, play it.
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I was researching the topic online and was really drawn to Annette Kruisbrink. My favorite type of music is in a modern language but still accessible, and I think she certainly fits the bill. I was really happy to find that she wrote a set of 15 short etudes. They remind me of Brouwer and Carlevaro's studies.
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Steve Price I love this, Steve! Glad you're joining in. I just downloaded these etudes for myself.
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Steve Price Nice piece Steve. There is a touch of mystery in the piece that attract your attention.
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Steve Price Bravo, Steve. Very well played. I loved the beautiful tone.
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Steve Price You are right, it does reminds of some pieces from Carlevaro. Good thing about challenges like these, you get to discover new music!
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don She's been a great find for me. Like Carlevaro, she has a wide range of music at varying difficulty levels, and she has a bunch of digital scores in online stores, so that helps.
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Eric Phillips Andre Bernier Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks so much. These have been a lot of fun.
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Steve Price Another really interesting piece, Steve. (Actually, I guess #13 is the 'another' piece since I am moving backwards). I will have to look into this etudes collection.
You have a great feel for this music.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. From what I remember, it seems like it would be up your alley. I doubt I would perform all of them since they get pretty far out at times, but they make for really nice studies.
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We cannot have a challenge on this topic without Maria Linnemann.
so I will polish her beautiful song Souvenir from the Suite for Lovers. Here is an iPhone-shot version when I tried a guitar (No capo though):https://youtube.com/shorts/lBAXEDH19b8?si=28Vt7FJPDUj1jL9K
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
