Week 2 - Blood, Sweat & Lágrimas 💧

Week 2 of the Lágrima Challenge, and this is the week of honest work. 💧

Every piece has a spot that fights back. Maybe it's a barre in the E minor part, a shift that clunks, or a rest stroke that won't stay even. Show us yours: a rough take, a slow run-through, a question, a fingering you changed. Unpolished is exactly right this week.

Just joining? No catching up required. Open the Lágrima Track, tell us where you're starting and dive in. And leave a kind word or a tip on someone else's take while you're here.

One question for the week: which step of the Track did you go back to the most, and why?

9 replies

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    • Eric
    • 7 days ago
    • Reported - view

    So here is a variation on Lagrima I came up with this morning. It's no masterpiece, just me having some fun.

      • Steve_Price
      • 7 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I really like that, Eric. I could hear this as part of a theme-and-variations set in the vein of someone like Daniel Asia, Bryan Johanson, or Dusan Bogdanovic (although if it were the latter, there would have to be at least one variation with a 5-against-11 polyrhythm or something like that). I would definitely explore this more.

      It could actually be a really interesting community challenge, too. Creating a theme and variation set on a very recognizable piece could be a lot of fun both as a playing and composition challenge. 

      • Eric
      • 7 days ago
      • Reported - view

       That would be fun. I can't remember if you were around for the composition challenges that Ashley Lucero led, but those were enjoyable. I never really caught the composing "bug" but it does tap into a different type of creativity.

      • Ron.3
      • 6 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Delightful Eric! Yes I remember the Ashley Lucero composition challenges - I certainly enjoyed those.

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 6 days ago
      • Reported - view

       This is great, Eric., and a good solution for participating in a challenge that is  not challenging ( a piece one has already worked up for example) or is not personally inspiring (ahem) .  I hope there are more variations to come.

    • Steve_Price
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Here's a take on it. The romantic era isn't something I play a lot, so this was fun to work on. I discovered that while this might be one of his simpler pieces, it is by no means simple, and there are a number of challenging spots. I also discovered when listening to this that I suffer from a case of what Roland Dyens calls Acute Arpeggitus, which he says is the "affliction causing you to systematically arpeggiate everything containing more than one simultaneous sound." Might need to work on my double stops. 

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Excellent performance, Steve - especially for someone who doesn't play a lot of romantic music! You seem to have the 'arpeggitis' well under control. It's something I struggle with too, and I'm constantly reminding myself that vertically aligned notes are supposed to articulated simultaneously! Actually, it's a widespread condition - even some professionals seem to suffer from it.

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Wonderful performance, Steve. Beautiful tone and phrasing.

      • Ron.3
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Great performance Steve - yes I have to watch out for 'arpeggitis' too !

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