Week 4: "Samba Strings Showcase"
Welcome to the Main Thread for the last week of "Villa-Lobos Voyage" practice challenge!
Select a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his Brazilian heritage. Whether it's a soulful Villa-Lobos composition, a rhythmic Brazilian-inspired work, or a piece by another artist inspired by the Brazilian musical tradition, the choice is yours!
Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Strive to practice daily and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This not only keeps you motivated but also allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
Share your favorite performance or recording that captures the spirit of the "Villa-Lobos-Voyage Challenge." Your submission will inspire others and create a vibrant collection of potential pieces for fellow members to explore.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Villa Lobos Choros #1 take two-the unornamented version. It's memorized! This has helped me clean up some of the difficult shifts and increase the tempo a little bit.
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Marilyn Blodget Excellent Marilyn! Personally I much prefer the unornamented version. I think memorising it has really helped with the tricky bits, well done!
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Ron Thanks Ron. I agree that memorizing helps a lot.
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Marilyn Blodget Fantastic job with this Marilyn! I appreciate how you're able to make some of those very difficult changes so quickly. I've been working on this piece as well, and it is such a workout for the left hand! Does your left hand get fatigued as well?
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Marilyn Blodget your unornamented version sounds great and flows well under your fingers... now time to add a bit or ornamentations
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Blaise Laflamme Ha! Take ‘em out, then put ‘em in! It’s nice to have options!
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HVL Prelude 5
i have gotten all my fingering downs and how I want it to sound. I think I've progressed somewhat but when I tried to record, my fingers somehow became stiffer. May need to try the blindfold trick.
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Section C
Still very rough but will try to work on this for the remaining of the week and see how it goes.
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don I love that bass waling part that starts at 0:40.
I think our brains are in a different mode when we perform or record, and it makes our fingers misbehave. Sounds great though. Thank you for sharing!
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Spare Machine Thanks! Sometimes I thought I was already playing very expressively or in tempo with the metronome but once you hit record and take away the metronome your fingers just do its own thing.
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don You're definitely progressing and improving nicely Don. I have a similar problem when recording. I can never give it my best performance (mind starts wandering, memory slips, tension, etc), so I understand. However, recording yourself and listening back closely really helps identify the problems so you can work on solutions. Please note one spot at measure #41. That A major 2nd inversion chord should be played with low "E" in the bass (open 6th string), not open "A". Keep going; your getting very close.
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don This is coming along so well! A couple of notes: 1st measure of C—you missed the second bass note, beat 4. Also measure 7 of C, beat 6 is an F#. I recommend playing with metronome at half speed to clean up. Then turn it off and work on building crescendos and speed in the runs. Have fun! You’ve done great work on this!
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Barney Thanks for pointing it out! Really appreciate it.
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Marilyn Blodget Thanks Marilyn! This is weird about measure 7, I'm using the Zigante edition and it says it is an F natural.
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don Oops—my bad! I meant to say you played an F# (probably because of the preceding 2nd fret bar), but it should be an F natural. Sorry!
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Marilyn Blodget Thanks Marilyn. I read it as F natural but still played it as F# haha. Thanks for pointing it out, I really didn't noticed at all.
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don Great progress Don, well done. I know what you mean about fingers becoming stiffer when you try to record! How's the new guitar coming on?
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Ron Thanks Ron! Yes, he had put in the sagework magnets and sealed up the box now. Not much done on the fretboard and headstock yet. He just went on a short holiday with his girlfriend. So probably looking at end of the year when it comes.
I've been listening to some of this guitar on guitarsalon and I'm starting to get really excited about it now.
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don Your progress is very impressive, Don. think you are ready to focus on the details of interpretation, as you have this piece well under your fingers (allowing for the insidious effects of recording! I believe that microphones actually emit mind blocking waves that destroy our ability to concentrate and take control over of our fingers.)
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don This is such a great piece, and you have some really nice stuff going on here Don. You've inspired me to want to take a look at it too!
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Jack Stewart not just the microphone, the camera as well. I cannot imagine the stress those concert players have when facing real audiences.
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Steve Pederson thanks! This is a really interesting piece the more I delve into it. John Williams has a version out there where he played it really fast and I can imagine Villa-Lobos play it that way too, almost like how we will strum and pick on a steel string guitar.
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I've not had a chance to upload lately, and my practicing of the piece took a backseat once the school year started up (I'm an educator) and I got a little cut on my left hand index finger that required me to hold off playing while it healed. So, this recording probably doesn't show a ton of progression, but it still felt good to play it again.
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Spare Machine welcome back and glad your finger healed. I can relate to it, sometimes just being able to play again is a fantastic feeling as staying off a while. Keep at it!
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Spare Machine Well done Mark and glad the finger has healed!
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Spare Machine Glad to see your back, Mar, and that you have all of your fingers intact (I counted to be sure). I am really glad to hear this piece again, it is such a haunting piece.
I hope the sirens weren't for you.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
