WEEK 1: Vamos, Compañeros 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of our musical Journey to Spain!! This is the place to share submissions of the first week! 
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ HAPPY PRACTICING, HAPPY SHARING ↓
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Santiago de Murcia - La Guastala
Here's another selection by de Murcia. I'd say it has some of the qualities that we often associate with Spanish music. I do think this one would sound much better on the baroque guitar with its "strummy" quality. I speak a bit of Spanish, but I have no idea what the title means.
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Eric Phillips Lol, Eric! If I'm an encyclopedia, I'm missing a lot of volumes! But I do enjoy learning about the repertoire I encounter. (And it's surprising how much can be gleaned from CD booklets!) I think my curiosity was cultivated by Noad's manner of presentation, where each anthologized selection is prefaced by a short historical introduction.
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David Krupka Well I appreciate. At least half the fun for me is learning about the music, not just playing it.
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Derek Here you go.
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Eric Phillips If you're interested in the early history of our instrument, 'The Guitar and its Music' by James Tyler and Paul Sparks is well worth reading. It's rather expensive to buy, but I would think Eastman has it in their library. (Not sure what their lending policy is, though.)
https://www.amazon.com/TYLER-SPARKS-Guitar-Renaissance-Classical/dp/B007OKSL82
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric - just printing it now!
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David Krupka Thanks, David. That price is a bit prohibitive. I have no idea how to access Eastman's library (or even where it is). I checked the county library system and they don't have it.
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Hey all, I'm back for another challenge! Though it's a very simple and probably somewhat cliche piece (and nobody knows if it's even a piece from Spain
), I thought I would start off with the timeless classic "Spanish Ballad".
I'm super excited to be a part of this challenge. I LOVE the music of Spain, and my dream is to one day go to Spain and play the songs that have names of the various cities and places. So, for example, Granada, Recuerdos De La Alhambra, Mallorca, etc.I will be honest with you, the challenge is not going to be learning new pieces for me. The challenge will be to try to get decent recordings of the Spanish songs I already know and love. This one has several "clams" in it. What I'm working on is trying to not be a perfectionist and just put myself out there.
I figured I'd create a series of them for my YouTube channel. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Thanks!-
Steve Pederson Hello Steve, this is probably the worldwide best known piece of the Spanish guitar ?
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Steve Pederson We’ll done, Steve. Good to hear from you again. Your playing is really good. Nice singing melody and beautiful tone.
Whenever I play for my parents (who are in their 80s) all they want me to play is Malaguena and this.
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Steve Pederson Very smooth and such a beautiful tone.
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Santiago de Murcia - Prelude and Allegro in D minor
Now I am going to try a more challenging piece by de Murcia. I'm not sure these two pieces were intended to go together, as I have found no scores with them together. But many guitarists (including Julian Bream) have recorded them together, so I figure I can as well. Maybe the more educated and informed players out there can let me know.
This video includes me talking a bit at the beginning. If you just want to get to the music, it starts around 1:20. I plan to continue working on this one for a little bit.
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric for discovering and sharing this beautiful music! They fit very well together!
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise, they sure do.
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@Eric Phillips, Bravo! Thank you for sharing!
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Moyses Lopes Thanks for listening, Moyses. I'll have some updates after I practice some more.
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Here is another dance from the Suite de Antiquas Danzas Españolas by Gaspar Sanz and freely arranged for classical guitar by Abel Carlevaro. This one is short and is entitled "Paradetas". Gaspar Sanz was born Francisco Bartolome Sanz Celma and his dates are from approximately 1640 to 1710. He studied in Salamanca, Spain and thus the cover photo which accompanies my recording was taken in Salamanca during my visit there in 2019.
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Dale Needles That has such a lovely, light, dance quality to it. Beautifully played, Dale!
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Dale Needles Dale - short but very sweet! Well played - great tempo and pulse.
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Dale Needles beautiful dance and very well played, thanks Dale!
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I am working on
- Yradier's La Paloma as arranged by Tarrega. I am working on keeping the upper melody triplet-eight feel against the bass dotted-eighth notes.
- Scarlatti K.208. Here my major challenge is the ornamentation.
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Santiago de Murcia - Prelude and Allegro in D minor
Here's an update on this. I took it at a quicker tempo this time, although I slowed down too much at the end of the Prelude.
(By the way, today is my daughter's 17th birthday, so that's why you see the "Happy Birthday" sign on our fireplace.)
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Eric Phillips Very beautiful piece and very well played. Happy birthday to your daughter!
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Eric Phillips Well played Eric. I like the piece as well. Happy Birthday to your daughter!
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Dale Needles Thanks, Dale. She got a present from Mother Nature today - a day home from school due to snow!
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Derek Thank you, Derek!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
