Week 1: Rhythmic Revelations 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "Song and Dance" practice challenge!
Choose a piece that is inspired or transcribed from a song or a dance. It could be a lively south-american danza, a passionate tango, a serene romantic lied, or a poignant aria transcribed for the guitar. You're welcome to explore pieces from unfamiliar composers or challenge yourself with a complex work.
Commit to daily practice and share your journey with the community. Aim to practice every day and upload at least two videos each week to illustrate your progress. This will not only help you stay committed and encouraged but will also allow you to share your musical voyage with our tonebase family.
Share your favorite piece or recording that embodies the theme of "Song and Dance." Your submission will serve as an inspiration to others and create a vibrant pool of potential pieces for other members to delve into.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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¡Hola todos!
I am loving this challenge, and I plan to participate, but I have been (somewhat frantically) preparing for my trip this weekend. I am going to be attending the Los Angles Guitar Festival!
I am super excited for this, but a little nervous. This is my first time going to LA and the first time going as a vendor. I will be representing La Ruta De La Guitarra - a business my friend and I are putting together where we take people on tours of Spain!
For the Song and Dance Challenge I have been thinking about working on Canarios by Gaspar Sanz. (I know many of you were expecting me to do an Ariana Grande cover. Sorry - not sorry.
) Canarios is a piece I learned when I first started playing guitar, but don't feel like I ever really quite mastered. I've been trying to relearn it lately and polish it up, but the new ways I've learned to play are conflicting with the old - and well worn - poor ways of playing that I originally had.
What's more, I decided to dig a little deeper into the origins of this song and dance from the Canary islands. What I've seen from performances of it on YouTube is that most interpretations of the dance are much slower than the guitar versions I've heard performed by the greats.
Take, for example, this version done by John Williams in 1975, where he rips it out in about 60 seconds (and appears quite satisfied with himself for doing so at the end!
) Following this is a video I found of a traditional Canary Island dance that is at about half the speed of what John is playing.
Now, I get it - I might be totally misunderstanding this whole Canarios/Dance of the Canary Island thing. If anyone has any information to enlighten me with, I will gladly accept it. It'll give me something to research on my flight! Cheers!
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Steve Pederson I really love this piece. Good luck and looking forward to it!
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You raise some interesting issues, Steve. One thing I would point out is that the 'Canario' dance had been popular in Europe for about a hundred years by the time Sanz set his now well-known version in 1674. (He composed a second version for his publication of 1675, the 'Libro Segundo'.) So it may by then have lost any strong connection to its origins in the Canary Islands. Perhaps the 'normal' tempo had changed over time. Furthermore, we should ask whether the tempo of purely instrumental dance music should be dictated by the particular demands of the dance itself. I would say not, but this is simply an opinion. In any event, in our own time, a 'tradition' seems to have developed of playing 'Canarios' as a sort of virtuoso show piece. Even the baroque guitarists have adopted this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJPVS_uZitI
(Canarios begins at 2:20, just after the EVH-inspired improvisation. Note, btw, that Rincon appears to using fully re-entrant tuning here - i.e. no bass strings.)
But the fact remains that 'Canarios' was conceived as a vehicle for learning to play the guitar! True, it's more difficult than many of the other pieces in the same publication, but I doubt Sanz intended it as a means of demonstrating one's chops! So I think a more relaxed tempo would be well justified, and would probably 'work' perfectly well. Looking forward to your own version! Oh, and, best of luck in L.A.! (Seems like an interesting idea you have!)
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Steve Pederson I like doing that type of research and it's always interesting how these things get down to us.
And yes, Williams is taking that at a pretty good clip. It seems like that was a thing for a while in the 80-90's where people would blow through baroque and classical pieces.
Enjoy the convention and good luck with the business.
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Steve Pederson Hi Steve, I'm also working on another Sanz piece for the challenge. I'm really excited to share more of Sanz's music here, ha ha. Can't wait to hear your version too!
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Steve Pederson This is a peculiar dance. From what I can tell, it starts off with the men kicking the women in the rear a bunch of times then kicking them in the shins. The women then get up and try to run away but the the men join them. And then all is well.
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David Krupka Thanks for your thoughts and that video David!
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Jack Stewart Ha! You’re hilarious!
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wow this is another great challenge.
Other than moon river which I picked up recently. the other pieces were something I played quite some time ago. It is a bit frustrating that I can forgot such a big chunk of music that I spent countless hours practising but I think should take much lesser time to pick up.
Moon River : Not exactly one that bring your feet up. But is such a nice piece. I came across recently on Kevin Loh's channel and the arrangement were in the link.
Gran Vals: I learn this sometime ago, was pleasantly surprise that I can remember the fingering still. Just matter of slow practice again and will be my submission for this challenge.
Oblivion: I love this arrangement. I discover when I saw Julia Trintschuk played. The arranger has this arrangement on his website for free.
Lob der Tranen: I've been waiting for a chance to pick up this piece again. I've forgotten most of it but will work on this after Gran Vals.
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don Wow Don, great performance. I particularly liked Oblivion. Such a nice song and well played. Thanks for sharing your work
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don Nice performances, Don. I really enjoyed the 'Moon River' arrangement. It suits the guitar so well! I guess you're playing it in standard tuning, rather than with the 6th raised a half-step?
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don Wow, Don! Each one of these is really played well. I don't know how you are able to keep all these 'balls in the air'. Great job!
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Andre Bernier Thank you! The arranger Ryuji Kunimatsu actually put this amongst his other arrangements on his website for free.
David Krupka Thanks David, yes I did played in standard tuning. I am a bit apprehensive raising the tuning even by half step on a classical guitar. It definitely made my life a bit more difficult but I think it works too.
Jack Stewart Thanks. I actually learned them before and I had written down all those fingerings so it is a bit easier to pick up again but still need a bit of work to hammer it into shape.
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don Thanks Don. I really enjoyed your playing. I’ve been working on the Kunimatsu Oblivion as well. I really like it!
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don wow Don. You really impress me playing so many pieces of this level, and playing them so well. Moon River is a beauty. I would like to learn that arrangement.
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joosje Thanks Joosje. You can find the arrangment here. https://affettomnc.com/tabs/?mod=document&pageid=1&keyword=Moon+river&uid=48
I played it in standard tuning instead of raising the low E to F. I don't have the courage to introduce tension to my guitar. But I think it stills works.
Marilyn Blodget Thank you!
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don These are really nice, Don. And thanks for the tip on Ryuji Kunimatsu. He has some great arrangements and I was reading through some of his original works too. Really impressive.
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I decided to throw into this challenge with a Scherzo which is by definition 'A lively piece, often humorous, in triplet time and used for the third movement of symphonies and sonatas.' I guess you could dance to it.
Scherzino Mexicano by Manuel Ponce I have a video of the first 16 bars played very slowly, very slowly and spotty with a few clams here and there, I included comments about the trouble spots I'm working on. Next week I should have this much better along with the 'B' Section. Did notice I need to focus on fretting the notes closer to the frets. Guitar may be out of tune also.
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Michael Shirk That's a lovely start on this. I've become more aware of Ponce recently and I really enjoy his music. There's always so much going on in it like the 3 against 2 rhythm here. So nice.
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Steve Price Thanks Steve, his 24 preludes are cool and very modern sounding.
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Michael Shirk Great start here, Michael! I don't think you're too far from a final tempo. It's definitely a tricky piece, what with the recurring three against two in the meter. My parents had an old recording of this played by Mario Ramos Lopez, who I believe made the arrangement. It's one of the pieces that made me want to learn the classical guitar in the first place. Looking forward to your next post!
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Michael Shirk Very nice Michael. I like when these pieces are played very slow. It just feel like having a nice walk on a beach with a smooth breeze.
Thanks for sharing
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Michael Shirk This is such a lovely piece and you're already playing it very well. Look forward to hearing the B section. Well done!
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Michael Shirk very good start. Beautiful piece. The phrasing is clear, nice sound. and for my taste no need to speed to much. A relaxed tempo works well
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joosje thanks Joosje, I feel a bit faster will do it justice. If not can always slow it down.
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