Week 3: Discovering Hidden Gems

Welcome to the "Around the World in 80 Strings Challenge"! This month, we'll embark on a global musical journey, exploring classical guitar compositions from various countries. The only rule: Don’t play a composer from your home country. Let’s make this a truly international experience!

🗓️ CHALLENGE TIMELINE

  • Challenge Start: Kick-Off on May 15th
  • Duration: May 15th - June 24th
  • Watch Party: June 24th

🎼 ACTIVITIES

  1. Choose Your Piece: Select a new piece of music to work on. Share your choice in the thread below and inspire your fellow musicians!
  2. Video Submission: Submit a video of your practice this week. Highlight your favorite passage from the piece that showcases the origin of this piece!

🎸 GET INVOLVED

Let’s kick things off with enthusiasm! Share your progress, encourage others, and explore new musical horizons together. Can’t wait to see what everyone chooses!

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    • Jack Stewart
    • Retired
    • Jack_Stewart
    • 4 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Ravel:  Tropes Beaux Oiseaux du Paradis Rough Draft

    I think this transcription works pretty well, now if I can only get where I can play it straight thru.

    It starts of better than it finishes. I really need to memorize this because the leaps cause me to look away from the score and I lose my place.

    I am also beginning to get a feel for this piece though that still needs much work.

    I am also posting my transcription if anyone is intersted in it.

    • Jack Stewart Very nice piece Jack. It has a lot of technical challenges but you are progressing very well and I am sure you will nail it at the end of the challenge. 👍

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    • Jack Stewart Good work, Jack! That is a great arrangement. Thanks for including the score. Is it yours, taken from other peoples'? (I apologize if you already told us in an earlier post.) I tried reading through it a bit. Fingering is very tricky! I would need to become much more familiar with the music before deciding on any fingering. You seem to be managing it quite well, though.

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      • Jack Stewart
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      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Andre Bernier Thanks, Andre. it has proven to be more challenging than 
      I thought it would be originally. I am currently at a point where I can generally play it all - just not at one time. Most of my pieces seem to be in that category.

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. It is my transcription, mostly, sort of. I started off with a transcription for guitar by Ron Whittle (sheetmusicplus). I wasn't convinced by it so I found a piano reduction with score on YT (Yutobeat). I screen copied each 'page' and stitch it together in Photoshop and then went through a rather laborious process of combining the 2 staves onto one in Musescore. I then tried reducing that version for guitar. Finally I found a version for 1 voice and piano (by Ravel I think). I combined that into 1 stave in Musescore. I then went through another laborious process of comparing each version and deciding what I should leave in and what I had to adjust. There are probably better adjustments to be made but I am currently happy with this version so I will stop - for now. Besides, I am having enough difficulty getting this into something that resembles music.

      Sorry. This is probably much more than you wanted to read.🙄

      Like 1
    • Jack Stewart Not at all. It's amazing how much work goes into arranging for the guitar. The couple times I have tried to arrange non-guitar music have been so bad that I have stopped doing it. What you have come up with here is truly incredible.

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      • Jack Stewart
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      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
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      Eric Phillips I previously transcribed a Bach Gavotte from one of the French suites. It came out really good and I was very impressed with my ability to transcribe.

      Well.... it required raising 2 bass notes up an octave. Still, it did come out very good.

      Like 1
    • Jack Stewart That's really nice, Jack. It sits very well on the guitar. I really enjoy transcribing but then I think I like the studying part more than the playing since only about one out of every ten or so attempts seems to go anywhere. The middle voices kill me. I'll generally have the bass and melody the way I want but then notice a middle line I like but by then I've run out of fingers. Still something I really enjoy and I love what you've done with this. 

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Price Thanks Steve. As my discourse with Eric suggests, I haven't done a lot of transcribing. This was much more challenging than I thought, at least for me. Now if I can only get to where I can actually play it.

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    • Jack Stewart impressive job, Jack. It’s amazing how well this works on guitar. Thank you also for describing the work you have done to come to  this transcription. Very insightful. 

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    • Jack Stewart Congrats, this is coming along quite nicely. I was not convinced when you first described this project to me, but now hearing it, you are winning me over. The beginning is sounding very good. 

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      • Jack Stewart
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      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Dale Needles Thanks Dale. It has been a slow slog but I feel I am beginning to get a handle on it. I need more time with phrasing, and listening.

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      • Jack Stewart
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      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
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      joosje Thanks joosje. I think it certainly has potential for guitar. I just posted a much better version and annotated score.

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    • Jack Stewart
    • Retired
    • Jack_Stewart
    • 4 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Ravel Trois Beaux Oiseaux

    This is much closer to having under control. I have my requisite bloopers but I have managed to keep them to a minimum (my standard). I will need to keep working on it. Once I have it memorized I will be able to focus more on interpretation.

    I have also included my transcription with my current fingerings (RH only).

    • Jack Stewart Sounding even better, Jack! Thanks for the score with fingering.

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    • Jack Stewart beautiful. I like the voicing, you are able to keep going most of the time. I tried to follow you with the score. Not so easy. But it’s truly worth the effort!
      I noticed in m 47 you play b natural.

      Personally I would slightly change the fingering of the ending cadence of the main theme  (bars 7/8, 23/24, 29/30), taking the c on 3rd string so it can keep ringing as indicated in your score
      As for the two extended chords in bars 15 and 32. I can’t find a way to play all 4 or 5 or notes as indicated, but I think you leave some the notes out as well.

      What a great job to make such a transcription. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
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      Eric Phillips Thanks Eric.

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      joosje Thanks Joosje. Also thanks for your comments and corrections. I had overlooked these and you are right (and very perceptive!). In mm 15 and 32 The lower notes should be deleted. I actually play it that way but never noticed it in the score. In measure 15 the left hand fingering is the same, just moved up a string. I also notice that the last chord in measure 15 is correct in the score but I play a 'g' rather than 'f#'. Harmonically it still works but actually that last chord in mm15 should go back to a barre at VII. The score is correct there but not what I played.

      Also you are correct about the b flat in measure 47! I guess I decided, inadvertently, to change it to a Picardy Third. 🤔 Fortunately none of these corrections create any further problems.

      As to your suggestion concerning refiguring the cadence of the main theme, I haven't had a chance to try those (I'm still on my first cup of coffee) but I like the reasoning. I'll check them out later and revise my score accordingly and repost it.

      Thanks again for the comments.

      Like
    • Jack Stewart it is getting better every recording. Great work 👍

      Like
  • Leila-Leila and Gol-e-gandome (June 1)

    I think both of these are coming along relatively well, and I wanted to try recording them together in one take. I am still needing the score for Leila-Leila, but I’ll try to get it memorized for my next post.

    Like 4
    • Eric Phillips I like seeing the 2 side-by-side. Your achievement on the harmonics section inspires me to maybe go back and give El Testament d’Amelia another whack. I kinda bailed on, it because I struggled with the harmonics section. Nice work!

      Like 1
      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips Spectacular, Eric! These are beautifull pieces that you have thoroughly embodied. Your execution and interpretation are wonderful. Great work!!

      The second piece seems like it has shades of Tchaikovsky's Arab Dance from the Nutcracker, at least the melody. (I guess the reference should go in the other direction.) It is probably just little figurations in the melody that seem similar. In any event, it made me think of that.

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    • Spare Machine Thanks! Those harmonics very much remind me of El Testament. I wouldn’t be surprised if Afshar thought of Llobet when creating this arrangement.

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    • Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. I hadn’t thought of the Tchaikovsky, but I suppose both melodies are Middle Eastern in flavor. I really love the use of what we in the West would call Phrygian mode in this piece, with the flatted second.

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      • Wainull
      • Wai_Ng
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips That was beautiful, Eric! I am practicing Giuliani "The Last Rose of Summer", but since I picked some more challenging pieces, it seems that it became harder to learn a whole piece in just a few weeks, hope I can record this one before the end of this challenge! Thank you for always sharing beautiful music here.

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