Week 3: Show your Flowers! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of the "Music YOU Love" practice challenge!
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↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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I love the title..haha. I have no flower but a seed to share.
Clair De Lune - James Edwards arrangement.
- I did made some changes to it.
Happy with overall progress but still couldn’t get some of the harmonics righ. There are certain passages which I did a lot of spot practices on but still didn’t get it to flow. Kept thinking ok, I’m approaching that said passage and i know how to deal with it now. Cue said passage and same mistake plus added tension.
Might have to re-think my practice approach.
Thanks again for the wonderful challenge and though the challenge has ended but I will definitely continue to work on this.
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Steve Price Thanks Steve! Do check out James Edward's arrangement, my only thought was if only this can be played in E Major rather than D Major. E major suited the sonority of the guitar better.
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don That is great, Don. I think this works really well on guitar, though it looks really difficult. You have done a great job.
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don This was so beautiful. I really love this song and definitely one that I would like to learn at some point! Bravo! Keep up the good work!
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Jack Stewart Thank you Jack!
Austin Flemming it is really worth the time to work on this piece. I did made some changes to it though but mainly to change it to match the same register as the piano version.
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So, the other day I took a long walk with Alicia de Larrocha, courtesy of Spotify and my earbuds, and got some new ideas. Thanks Barney! Her most important advice, I think, was to luxuriate in the transitions. I may still have more luxuriating to do, but I'm having fun. Also, I found a new way to play an almost impossible passage. That's a new skill for me. And I looked again at dynamic and tempo markings. At least Im pretty sure about what I want to do.
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Marilyn Blodget Lovely, Marilyn! What is the almost impossible passage that you found a new way to play?
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Marilyn Blodget It looks like you are really enjoying this, Marilyn. It shows in your playing, and keeps improving as you continue working on this piece. Keep going-- it sounds nice and I never get tired of listening to Albeniz. I remember vividly hearing and seeing in person Alicia de Larrocha performing ( in New York) the entire Iberia suite by Albeniz. It was so moving and gave me chills.
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Marilyn Blodget Which transcription of Mallorca are you using?
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Barney Thanks for your encouragement Barney. What’s a wonderful experience to hear the entire suite live! Before Covid I had a project to play several Albeniz pieces on both piano and guitar: Mallorca, Leyenda, Rumores de la Caleta, Torre Bermeja, Zambra Granadina, and Capricho Catalan.
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Barney My own compilation. I began years ago with Segovia’s. Then I redid the B section to eliminate a lot of the shifts, and then changed measures 4-6 to make them legato. Then a couple of days ago I changed measure 13 to reduce left hand stress.
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Eric Phillips measures 12-13 from Segovia’s edition. I love the low F in measure 13, but keeping the bar for the Bb on the second string was stressful.
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Marilyn Blodget Wow Marilyn! That's a wonderful grouping of Albeniz pieces. So cool!! Hey, what about Sevilla (haha, just kidding...)?
Were you able to complete the project and perform it?
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Marilyn Blodget I was curious, because I remember when I play this piece with Segovia's edition, the first melody note ("A") on E string was played with 4th finger, and accompaniment chords were played on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings (bit of s stretch).
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Marilyn Blodget fyi..That first melody note "A" with chords as I described, is also notated in David Russell's edition the same way as Segovia...
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Barney I actually have gotten all the guitar pieces ready in the last few years- and I worked on Sevilla with Jason Vieaux to a pretty good level. One problem with Sevilla is the tuning. It has to be the last piece I practice, so I often don’t get there. The piano pieces are so much easier to play, but need a refresh and thoughtful attention to detail. I’ve been enjoying a deep dive into Chopin and Brahms. It’s all a question of time and concentration.
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Marilyn Blodget Nice solution! I suppose it's a bit of a compromise to cut the melody note (C) in order to play the open E string in the accompaniment, but I don't find that very noticeable when listening. I compromised by moving the bass note up an octave.
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Barney Yes. Jason suggested playing it in the 5th position. That was a difficult change for me, but now I like it.
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Eric Phillips There are always compromises when playing piano transcriptions. I was surprised that my change worked as well as it did.
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Marilyn Blodget I understand Marilyn. I love Chopin piano music ( particularly the Nocturnes), and Brahms piano conciertos.
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Marilyn Blodget Beautiful performance of this work, Marilyn. Very effective contrast between the sections.
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Jack Stewart Thank you Jack!
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Here is take 2 for Carlevaro's Vidalita - Sol del Mayo. Not sure I play it any better, but I hope the sound is better.
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Dale Needles Beautiful, Dale!
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Dale Needles Thanks for sharing this Dale. Beautiful! Wondering if Carlevaro would use Vibrato on those beautiful thirds on the high strings...my inclination would be to do so.
Anyway, I'm in process (about half way) reading Carlevaro's book "My Guitar & My World". It's very interesting and I'm really enjoying it. After this book, I think I'll take a look at his School of guitar.
Based on what I'm seeing on Tonebase, it seems (to me) this technique could only be properly implemented working closely (in person) with a qualified Carlevaro trained teacher. What do you think about that Dale?
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Dale Needles That's really nice, Dale. I love how even his more accessible music has some modern vocabulary mixed in. It always keeps it interesting to play and listen to.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
