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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I have some new things in the works for the month, but here are a couple of pieces I put up in my resolutions post a couple of months ago and they seemed to fit this challenge.
Leo Brouwer's Zapateo (or Zapateado) is based on a flamenco dance and the name translates to tap dancing in English.
Antonio Lauro's Ana Cristina was conceived of by Lauro as a lullaby for one of his nieces, but it's written in the style of a Venezuelan merengue with a triplet followed by a tuplet which gives it a distinct swing feel.
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Steve Price Lovely! I really enjoyed your playing! Thank you!
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Marilyn Blodget don Thanks, I really appreciate it.
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Here are two folk songs harmonized by Vincente Emilio Sojo and transcribed for guitar by Antonio Lauro. The first is entitled El Gato (the cat) and the second is La Pulga y El Piojo (about the marriage of a flea and a louse). Sojo lived from 1887-1974 and was a composer, conductor and the founder of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra.
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Dale Needles two beautiful short pieces played with great dynamics and colours, thanks for sharing Dale!
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Dale Needles Very nice, Dale!
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Dale Needles thank you for these, Dale. I like Sojo’s work. These I didn’t know, but they are so charming and you are playing them really well. Light and lively.
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Dale Needles Great choices Dale and well played. Thanks for sharing
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Dale Needles interesting pieces, Dale! I don’t think I’ve heard either of them before. Although short, they don’t appear easy - the first in particular looks like quite a workout for the left hand. The subject of the second sounds intriguing! It brings to mind Donne’s little poem on conjugality. (If that indeed is what ‘The Flea’ is about.)
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Dale Needles Those are nice pieces, Dale. I hadn't heard these but there's so much music from the circle of Lauro, Diaz, and Sojo. Very nice.
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Blaise Laflamme Eric Phillips joosje Andre Bernier David Krupka Steve Price Thanks all. Glad you like these two short Venezuelan folk songs by Sojo and Lauro. They are a bit rare. I actually have copies of handwritten scores by Lauro. Fun pieces to play. Children folk songs are a large part of Venezuelan musical history and both Sojo and Lauro wrote a lot of short little arrangements of children folk songs. And yes, David, "the Flea and the Louse," which I am told have lyrics, although do not have them, is about the marriage of the Flea and Louse and the guests they are inviting to their wedding.
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Dale Needles Sweet! Imagine a song about a flea and a louse! I remember hearing a story about our “p” (pulgar) being a useful tool for killing the fleas that bounced around on the table under the candlelight.
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This challenged me to work on Ida Presti’s Dance Rythmique. It’s a relatively unknown piece, but there is this inspiring course with Connie Sheu.
Not a technically very difficult piece, but I have some work here: balance of the voices, clear phrasing of the rather short melodic lines and accentuating contrasts and colours. I feel I’m going to stay with this piece for a while and try to get it complete and growing over the coming weeks. This is the first half as a starting point, after a bit of practice and reviewing Connie’s lesson. Oh yes, there are a few bars where I’m not sure of the correct notation. Some inconsistencies? I play what is printed. If there is anyone out there familiar with the piece, I would appreciate your input ….
Ida Presti was one of the great guitarists of her era, the word is that Segovia said to her: “I have nothing more to teach you”.
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joosje it’s already sounding good, Joosje. I know of the piece through Cinzia Milani’s performance for Siccas Guitars. I’m surprised to hear it’s not technically difficult, because it certainly doesn’t sound easy! The problem you describe of inconsistencies (or mistakes) in the notation is one I’ve encountered frequently, especially in older editions. It’s never easy to decide what to do: follow the score, or one’s intuition? (For me, it’s usually the latter.) I know a little about Presti, because my teacher (years ago) had studied with her husband, Alexandre Lagoya. I used to have copies of some of their hand-written duet repertoire. (Some of which I actually played!)
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joosje Great find and really a beautiful piece. Really looking foward to hearing more.
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joosje This is really nice. I don't know this one but I messed around with her studies a bit. Those are great and I'm surprised they aren't more well known.
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David Krupka Thanks David. Yeah, I see, Cinzia’s tempo is a step further. More presto than allegro. That requires flawless technical skills in order to perform the contrasts and shifts.I think it is not necessary to play so fast. But I intend to speed up a little. I agree with you about following your intuition, but with contemporary composers that’s tricky, the style maybe romanticism, but some details may deliberately disturb the idyll and give a personal touch. I don’t know Presti well enough as a composer. She wasn’t there to follow up on the editions of her works. And she wasn’t really trained in composition. So, as all examples do, I follow the score.
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joosje
Very nice choice Joosje. It is already flowing nicely. I am looking forward to hearing the full piece.
Thanks for sharing your work
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joosje So beautiful, Joosje! I love the rhythmic articulation of the opening, and then after that, you bring out the melody so well.
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Hello All,
I do not have a recording yet as I am just starting to learn and practice it.
However, I can share with you a piece from a Canadian Artist that I like a lot.
Jesse is from Toronto, Canada and is a great guitar player that I had the chance to watch last fall when he came in Québec city for a concert.
Here is on of his great inspiring piece ''Havana'' . Hope you will enjoy
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Andre Bernier wow, that’s really nice. Can’t sit still when I hear this. Thank you for sharing, Andre.
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I decided to give the first page of the Danza Paraguya a try, because I've enjoyed it so much during the kick off! The first few bars are pretty difficult for me at the moment, but I'll see how they work tomorrow!
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martin I’m sure you’ll get there within the time of the challenge. Great piece. Personally, I prefer the duo version….
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martin Great work Martin. This is such a difficult piece. Keep working on it. You will master it soon.
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martin It's so great to have you joining in, Martin! It is just amazing that you are able to do those left hand gymnastics so well, so quickly (although with the reverse angle video, I guess its your right hand). I hope you keep it up so we can have the joy of hearing you play the entire piece.
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martin Wow, those stretches look incredibly challenging! I don't think I could do them even if I broke my fingers. I'm really looking forward to learning how to tackle these kind of super difficult problems. Thank you for sharing, Martin!
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