Week 2: Ballads and Barcarolles 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of "Song and Dance" practice challenge!
Choose a piece that is inspired or transcribed from a song or a dance. It could be a lively south-american danza, a passionate tango, a serene romantic lied, or a poignant aria transcribed for the guitar. You're welcome to explore pieces from unfamiliar composers or challenge yourself with a complex work.
Commit to daily practice and share your journey with the community. Aim to practice every day and upload at least two videos each week to illustrate your progress. This will not only help you stay committed and encouraged but will also allow you to share your musical voyage with our tonebase family.
Share your favorite piece or recording that embodies the theme of "Song and Dance." Your submission will serve as an inspiration to others and create a vibrant pool of potential pieces for other members to delve into.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Joanambrosio Dalza - Piva
After playing the pavana by Dalza in week one, I promised I would try to work on the other dances from the "suite". Well, the saltarello and piva that Dalza put together with the pavana I played were just too difficult for me. Here is a piva from another "suite" that is in the same key, but is within my capabilities at this point on the instrument. I am playing it slower than a piva should be played. My most common mistake on the lute is playing the wrong bass string with the right hand, and I do that several times in this recording. The close spacing of the courses on the lute is very challenging for me.
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David Krupka No, no frets have needed changing yet. I wouldn't have the first clue about how to do that. I might just pay to have someone else do it.
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Eric Phillips It's a nuisance, but not especially difficult. Mind, it took me quite a few trials (and wasted gut) before I got the hang of it. Going to a luthier (or experienced player) the first time would make good sense, especially if you can watch the process to learn how it's done. If you're doing it without help, Martin Shepherd has a useful demonstration that can be found on his webpage (under 'Videos'):
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Eric Phillips wow... I hear you... what a task... after that you need a nap!
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Eric Phillips That settles it. I'm getting myself a lute! How fun is this?! Great job Eric!
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Steve Pederson I highly recommend it! Now all I need is a vihuela, a baroque guitar, and a romantic guitar. While I'm at it, maybe a new modern guitar would be good too. Here's a real bargain I found on eBay:
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Eric Phillips
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Eric Phillips wow... a bargain!
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An update on my practice of Cuban Dance, experimenting with:
- Apoyando on the melody line , and "a" finger in general ( instead of tirando )
- p p p p instead of i p i p on the scale down,
- planting right hand fingers for the accompaniment
Do you see any pros / cons?
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Calin Lupa I really admire your attention to the details of technique at the service of the music. I generally just go with whatever I am used to, especially in the right hand. You are working hard, however, to try other possibilities and put in the time to develop them.
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Calin Lupa Great attention to detail, Calin. I like your approach and I look forward to your progress on this.
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Calin Lupa Great stuff Calin! I like the different examples and how you're asking questions. I like the apoyando on the melody - and from what I can tell it's just on the downbeats. The only thing I can't really tell from the recording - which often happens with this kind of thing (I'm thinking the classic song "Romanza" aka "Spanish Ballad") is that, when you play the melody notes apoyando, the finger comes to rest on, and therefore mutes, the second string. If that's not a problem, then it makes sense.
Also, since you're doing apoyando, one thing you might want to try is doing apoyando on that bass run with i-m-i-m where you're currently doing p-p-p-p. That would be more of a "flamenco-y" way to play it, but it sounds like that might work with this song.
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Calin Lupa great practice Calin, this is indeed not an easy piece!
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Steve Pederson i-m-i-m on the scale down works indeed well, the problem is that at the end of it you have to do p-i-ma , and I found that sometimes I miss some of the strings, at speed. Therefore I was tryng to find a more "secure" way. p-p-p-p is not easy to achieve at speed either, so still experimenting...
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If it's about dancing, then ... Ruiz Pipo's "Cancion y danza" is one of my favorites. Here is a practice video at medium speed. It's a difficult piece for me, I'll need to practice slower, shifts are challenging and keeping it together even at medium speed is still aspirational.
Maestro René Izquierdo has a wonderful class on this piece on Tonebase.
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Calin Lupa This is a great start to a very difficult piece. You kept up the relentless rhythm and delivered a lovely melody on top of it. I watched Izquierdo's lesson on this a while back, and put this piece into the "I'm not ready for that yet" category.
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Calin Lupa You have a great beginning to this piece. I agree with Eric, this is a demanding piece. I remember first hearing this on a Narciso Yepes album (probably 50 years ago, Yikes!)
Great job Calin. Really looking forward to the finished version.
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Calin Lupa Yeah Calin! This sounds like a lot of fun. Keep going!
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Calin Lupa hmmm... my comment was about this piece but somehow got posted on your other post... anyways great!!
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Jack Stewart I heard this piece for the first time many years ago also on the Narciso Yepes album and fell in love with it. I didn't think at the time that I'll ever be able to attempt to play it.
Thank you all, much more work is needed..
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Calin Lupa That's really nice, Calin. Yepes was my first exposure to this one as well. To me, this is one of the hardest kinds of pieces to play since that rhythm gives me nowhere to hide. I can't slow it down to regroup and call it rubato, lol. You really have this coming along well.
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Calin Lupa This is sounds like such a fun piece to learn and play. You are already off to a great start. Thanks for sharing!
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Calin Lupa Wow, that's a beautiful piece of music you've shared! The rhythm and melody are really captivating, and the tempo already sounds great to me. Thank you so much for sharing it with me!
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John Dowland - Round Battle Galliard
I had played this on the guitar many decades ago, when I still had Noad's "Renaissance Guitar" anthology. Now that I have a lute, I thought I'd give it a go again.
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Eric Phillips Dude! You are a born lutenist. A Lute Dude.
You really do have a great command of your lute. Your playing sounds very full and confident. beautiful.
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Jack Stewart Thank you, Jack. I don't particularly share your evaluation of my lute playing. When I listen to truly good lutenists, their sound is so much better than mine. Even those who are not virtuosi, but who play the instrument properly (not like a guitarist), make me feel like I am just messing around like a small child.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
