The Dance Challenge Week Two
Let’s dance!
In this community-driven challenge, we will be playing dance music. So, choose a piece from any time period, location, or culture that is set to a dance rhythm. Whether it be an Italian Saltarello, an Argentinian Tango, or something in between, let’s get our toes tapping and our fingers dancing across the guitar strings.
This challenge will last four weeks, until Saturday, June 7th. A new thread will be posted each week.
In week one, we had music from Tansman, Stachak, J.S. Bach, Lauro and Aguado. Let’s keep it going!
If there are any beginners looking for suggested pieces, please feel free to ask the community.
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Chopin Mazurka Op. 24.1
This will probably be my last post for this challenge as I leave tomorrow for LA.
This piece Is still a work in progress. I have some technical issues that I haven't got under control and I am not satisfied with my phrasing. But it is getting there.I think this is a beautiful Mazurka and I want to keep it in my repertoire.
I reinstalled the fake nails which has helped, even though one is already about to fall off.
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Jack Stewart Another impressive piece Jack. I enjoyed it very much.
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Bogdanovic: Suite brève: III. Sarabande
Just learned about Dusan Bogdanovic's Hommage to J.S. Bach, Suite brève. There are some very tough movements, but they're actually not too bad compared to some of his other work. This is by far the easiest, but it needs work. Really a lovely suite, and it's interesting to hear Bach-like music with some modern chords (always very respectfully, not gimmicky).
It calls for the sixth string to be C#, so I had to break out my alternate tunings guitar. I bought this in Osan, Korea in 1988, and somehow it survived all this time across half a dozen countries. It's a "Segovia" brand guitar so I knew it had to be good, lol.
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Steve Price Very nice Steve! I hadn't come across this before so I listened to the whole suite today. I particularly liked the gigue with it's nod to the prelude from the 4th lute suite at the end. Great work.
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Steve Price Very nice, Steve! I don't hear the similarity to Bach (due to my own musical shortcomings, no doubt), but I did enjoy it.
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Steve Price what a beautiful piece. (I didn’t know) And you sound so warm and deep. Nice harmonics too. Wonderful.
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Steve Price Great performance of this fascinating little Sarabande, Steve. I don't think I know this suite by Bogdanovic. I'll have to look into it. Thanks for sharing this.
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Eric Phillips Thanks, Eric. The similarities aren't so noticeable in this piece, other than the fact that it is such a peaceful dance nestled in between heavily contrasting sections (here, a fugue and a chaconne), kind of like Bach did with his sarabandes in several of the lute suites. Like Ron mentioned, the are more similarities in pieces like the gigue.
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joosje Jack Stewart Thanks a lot. Most of the suite is over my level, but it was really a good find, I think.
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Ron I think the chaconne is my favorite, but I love the gigue, too. Of course, Bogdonavic gives it the full polymetric treatment, which makes it extra hard. Don't know if I'll ever get it up to speed, but it's really interesting to read through.
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Today I finish the Vallet cycle, from my (1962) edition. A volte and galliarde. The capo works well for me in these pieces.
I end this week adding a charming piece by Jacob le Polonais (Jakub Polak), a lutist from Poland who lived 1545-1605, worked also in France. His Courante, also in the arrangement by my teacher (D. Visser) ed. 1964 - in a very guitaristic manner, so I took the capo off. These editions are from the days that guitar and lute music was quite unknown in my country, and knowledge of baroque practice was not yet so widespread as it is today.
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joosje All three of these were such a joy to listen to, Joosje! You play with such a great sense of the dance rhythms. I imagine the last one would be even more difficult to play with a capo, since it goes up in the higher positions, even without the capo.
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joosje Beautiful, Joosje. The Vallet Suite is a charming little suite that you perform wonderfully.
I am not familiar with the Polonais work at all. It is really nice and your performance is full of grace. Thanks for these.
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joosje Beautiful Joosje, I really enjoyed listening to you play all three pieces
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joosje Excellent, Joosje. Those runs in the courante are very slick. Nicely done.
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I was hoping to post something in Week 1 but time got the better of me again! I'm going to work on the De Visee Suite in D Minor and hopefully some more pieces later next week. Of the De Visee suite I've played the Sarabande and Gigue before but I've started working on the Courante and Gavotte which I have never attempted before. Here's a first stab at a recording of the Sarabande.
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Derek A beautiful choice, Derek. And it was only enhanced by the picture of Bob Dylan behind you!
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Derek so nice, Derek. This is for me one of the top pieces of our repertoire, accessible also to us amateur guitarists, and so intense and refined. Thank you for sharing.
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Derek Beautiful piece sensitively played, Derek. I remember this from years ago (decades actually). I'll have to pull this music out when I get back home. I think I have at least de Visee suites in my collections. Thanks for reacquainting me with this music.
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Derek Gosh this took me back many years - Minuet II was one of the first pieces I tried playing before I had any lessons. I just dug out my Karl Scheit edition (it cost me 5 shillings in old money!) Thank you for reminding me what a beautiful suite this is. Well played
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric - I'll try to find another picture to enhance it even more :-)
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joosje Thank you for your comments Joosje - always appreciated
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack. I have a group of fellow guitarists who meet up most weeks to play a few duets, ensemble pieces. I've tried to get them to each play a movement from this suite so we could perform it in turn (I took the Prelude). None of them have taken up the challenge so I've decided to do it myself! As the old saying goes - 'If you want something doing.........'
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Ron Thanks Ron. This is the Scheit version which I actually bought second hand in a job lot of guitar music from an elderly (even older than me!) gentleman who was downsizing into sheltered accomodation so it's probably even older than yours!
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Derek I had a look through mine - I didn't realise that I'd actually worked through the whole suite in the past- I have all the fingerings from one of my early guitar teachers!
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This is the end of Week Two of this challenge. Other than comments on the posts above, please post new contributions in Week Three.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
