Week 4: Serenade Showcase
GREETINGS, ESTEEMED TONEBUDDIES!
Are you ready to embark on a musical journey through the enchanting realm of Villa-Lobos and his South-American roots? With the new release of Douglas Lora's Preludes this Friday and the whole Suite Populare Bresilienne with Fabio Zanon in the making, we are thrilled to present the revamped "Villa-Lobos Voyage Extravaganza," an extraordinary experience celebrating the works of Villa-Lobos and composers influenced by his heritage. Over the next four weeks, dive into captivating compositions, exploring the rich tapestry of sounds and rhythms.
WHEN 
- Challenge Start: Official Kick-Off on July 30th
- Challenge Duration: July 30th - August 30th
- Watch Party of Selected Submissions: September 9th
HOW TO BEGIN 
Select a Piece:
- Choose a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his South-American heritage. Options include soulful Villa-Lobos compositions, rhythmic Brazilian-inspired works, or pieces by other artists inspired by South-American musical traditions.
- Choose a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his South-American heritage. Options include soulful Villa-Lobos compositions, rhythmic Brazilian-inspired works, or pieces by other artists inspired by South-American musical traditions.
Practice and Share:
- Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Aim for daily practice and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This keeps you motivated and allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
- Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Aim for daily practice and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This keeps you motivated and allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
Submit Your Performance:
- 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.
- 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.
The heart of this challenge lies in exploring the rich cultural heritage of Villa-Lobos and his musical influences. So, pick a piece that intrigues you and embrace this journey with enthusiasm and curiosity. Together, let's celebrate the captivating sounds of Villa-Lobos and his Brazilian roots. Get ready to practice, learn, and immerse yourself in the Villa-Lobos Voyage Challenge! 
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I've really been enjoying Douglas Lora's classes on the Villa Lobos Preludes. I am trying to incorporate some of his suggestions on Prelude 5. It is a favorite of mine.
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Marilyn Blodget Very beautiful and such lovely tone and expression.
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Marilyn Blodget Beautiful Marilyn! This is also one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing it.
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale!
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Barney Thank you Barney! My thumbnail was hanging on with a dab of glue. As soon as I made this recording it fell off.
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Marilyn Blodget This is such a charming and sweet-sounding prelude. Beautifully played, such nice tone and colour.
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thank you Nijwm.
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Marilyn Blodget I tried the 5-second glue with my thumbnail that split vertically last week. It also didn't hold up, so off to the nail salon for a beautiful single Gel wrap, haha.
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Marilyn Blodget This was beautiful, Marilyn. It has been a while since I heard this Prelude. I especially like the first section.
I agree with you about Lora's Prelude lessons. I have watched the #3 a couple of times in considering on working on it. (Etude #5 has pretty much occupied all of my time).
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! I agree that it’s difficult to tackle new pieces when monsters are calling. I’ve looked at all the VL preludes over time. Each time I circle back I learn something new, and I really enjoy Lora’s insights.
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Barney I hope that works out well for you Barney. When I’ve repaired with powder, it destroys the nail bed underneath, so then I either need to keep repairing it, or wait months for it to grow out.
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Marilyn Blodget Thanks Marilyn on the nail repair topic. I know about the risk of weakening (thinning) of the nail bed; so when this Gel repair is done and later comes off, I use some nail hardener temporarily until it grows back stronger. It seems to be working. This recent split was very serious because it was vertical, so I needed some professional help...always pluses and minuses...
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Here is the Finale, the third movement of Abel Carlevaro guitar sonata, Cronomias. This sonata was completed in 1971 and is one of Carlevaro most important works for solo guitar in my humble opinion. As I have mentioned before, Carlevaro studied with and was greatly influenced by Villa-Lobos. The Finale is the third movement of the sonata. I still need to work on smoothing out some rough edges and increasing the tempo in places. Nevertheless, I am relatively pleased with the progress to date, having worked on the Finale for only one month.
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Dale Needles Wow! The Finale sounds amazing (and in such a short time), Dale. Great articulation, dynamics and colors. Bravo!
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Dale You play this very well, with clarity and expression. I’m curious—what do you think about as you play this? Does it relate a story line or particular emotions to you?
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Dale Needles Amazing work on this piece, Dale. What an accomplishment!!! You have mastered the technical, as well as musical, demands of this piece.
So Martin has given you an extra week to stitch it all together (I cannot imagine!!).
Amazing work and am really looking forward to hearing the entire sonata.
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Barney Thanks, Barney. It still needs some work but coming along. If I can memorize it, I think I can make it flow a little better.
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Marilyn Blodget Thanks. Interesting question. As I am still learning the piece, my mind tends to focus on hitting the notes but does sonetime drift back to my time spent in Montevideo in the 1980s. As a story line, I will need to think more of that in the context of the whole of Cronomias which is quite long and its significance to the measurement of "time" or "Kronos."
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. As I replied to Barney, it is coming along. With this extra week of the Challenge, I will try to polish it up some but won't try to record the entire piece (22 pages and 15 minutes long) for this Challenge. As it is, I now have recorded each movement separately. Recording the entire piece in one go will have to wait for another day.
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Dale Needles Thanks for your response. It’s interesting how our life experiences color our music. And certainly the title tells us something about what Carlevaro was thinking.
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Dear tonebuddies, as we have a lot of cross streams in the next two weeks, we are going to postpone the Watch Party to September 9th! Happy practicing!!
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martin Good idea... can you add it to the live calendar?
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Martin Hey Martin, I just noticed that the Watch Party has not been posted on the Live Calendar yet. Is it still scheduled for September 9?
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VL Etude #5 Better .... but....
This is somewhat better, I think. Most of the rough spots have been ironed out (or at least glossed over), however there are still some annoying glitches.
Some ongoing problems I have yet to resolve:
I have not been able to separate the voices when the bass is prominent but the upper ostinato should be very soft. mm 5-6, 12-13, 31-33. and the repeated upper note mm 37 - 40.
Eliminating the 'squeakies' mm 17 - 20
navigating the E ½ dim7 (?) at the end of m 48 (to the f# dim (?) in mm 49.
Overall I still need to get a better sense of phrasing.
I just saw that Martin is going to make me practice this some more.
I think Tilman Hoppstock is my preferred interpretation of this piece.
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Jack Stewart That was great, Jack. You started very strong and kept it up throughout, one of your best posts. Congrats
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Jack Stewart ExcellentJack! It keeps getting better, Bravo!
You are playing this quite fast. (perhaps it is actually concert speed).. However, I'm thinking if you reduce speed very slightly, it may give you more control to attack some of the issues you mentioned, seem less rushed in some spots, and address phrasing more easily. Just my initial reaction...not a criticism.
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