Week 4: From Cardoso to Carlevaro!
Greetings, everyone! We are thrilled to welcome you all to the Latin American Music Challenge! 
In this exciting journey, we'll be immersing ourselves in the richly diverse and vibrant world of Latin American music, a world that's deeply interconnected with our beloved instrument
This challenge presents an opportunity to not only enhance our skills but also to appreciate the cultural richness and musical complexity that Latin American melodies bring. From the passionate rhythms of salsa to the poignant strains of the tango, we'll explore it all!
Please remember, we have an extensive category in our library dedicated to Latin American Repertoire. This library is a treasure trove of courses designed to provide deep insights and technical knowledge about various aspects of Latin American music. Make sure to make the most of it!
We are excited to kick-start this musical journey and we hope you are too. Let's dive in!
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/library/repertoire/latin-american
CHALLENGE TIMELINE
- Challenge Start: Kick-Off on June 30th
- Duration: June 24th - July 24th
- Watch Party: July 30th, 10 am PST
ACTIVITIES
- Choose Your Piece: Select a new piece of music to work on. Share your choice in the thread below and inspire your fellow musicians!
- Video Submission: Submit a video of your practice this week. Highlight your favorite passage from the piece that showcases the origin of this piece!
GET INVOLVED
Let’s kick things off with enthusiasm! Share your progress, encourage others, and explore new musical horizons together. Can’t wait to see what everyone chooses!
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Due to very limited time for this month's challenge, I selected the second song from Tres Canciones Populares Mexicanas. The beautiful melody in this piece is the only one of the 3 songs that was originally composed by Manuel Ponce.
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Barney Barney that's a beautiful performance - love the choice!
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Barney Such a lovely piece and beautifully played. If I may, I did notice a little more string noise than usual in your performances, particularly in your glissandos. Carlevaro always emphasized that one's focus and energy be directed at the arm movement when doing glissandos. I also find that if I ever so slightly move my hand to the left it helps minimize the string noise. Just a suggestion but in any case, your playing of this piece is beautiful.
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Ron Thanks Ron!
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale!
I was also not happy with the string noise on these very bright bass strings. It's one of the reasons I do not like them (Blaise also didn't like the brightness of these strings). In this piece I want the effect of these glissandos; however, if you can suggest any other methods to handle the noise problem , I would appreciate it. I will try your suggestions already mentioned and wondering if moisturizing the calluses on the fingers may also help reduce the noise...
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Barney I love it, Barney! I have heard Canciones, but have never tried to play them. Do I guess correctly from what you wrote that you think this is the easiest of them to play?
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Barney Beautifully played Barney... hmmm... what's strings are you referring to, Knobloch Actives?
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric! I don't think any of them are difficult technically. I believe this one may be more challenging "musically" to perform, but may be easier to play due to slower tempo.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise! Yes, the Knobloch Actives Double Silver QZ Nylon (300ADQ) Medium tension. I concur with your opinion about the basses being too bright for my taste. Was wondering if this makes the string noise more pronounced on glissandos. Ordinarily , I would lift off the string (Carlevaro style) to avoid noise, but in this case wanted the gliss effect.
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Barney Oh yes the Actives basses are also too bright for my taste, not forgiving on glissando or position switches, the wound feels thicker than what I'm used to and the 4th string has not enough tension (the 2nd QZ treble too). My preference choice for basses are definitely the Savarez Corum or Cantiga, they are more flexible, easy to play, well defined and have a great tone. For all Knobloch sets I've tried so far the one I felt more comfortable with were the Erithacus Bio-Nylon, the basses are better balanced with a darker sound and the trebles have a better tone and feel far from sounding or feeling plastic.
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Blaise Laflamme Got it! I appreciate the Strings info. Thanks Blaise!
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Barney This is a beautiful piece. Very well performed as usual!
For further inspiration also for others who want to play this piece. ( I worked with it some time ago.) To fit to the text of the song you really have to rubato
This video really show all the heart, sensuality and passsion that this composition potentially encompasses
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Lars Kjøller-Hansen Thanks for sharing this beautiful video with us! As we all know, singing the melody (and in this case with words) enables the player to understand proper phrasing, etc. Further, since our instrument cannot sustain like a human voice, there is a delicate balance to achieve the overall desired result.
In any case, I think we can all agree that Ponce's lyrical song is very beautiful, and although rather simple technically, is more challenging musically.
Thanks Lars for giving us another source to help with our interpretation. Much appreciated!
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Barney Beautiful, Barney. I think I have these in a Japanese collection. I'll have to look at them.
You mentioned that Ponce originally composed this piece? And he referred to it as a popular Mexican Song? It seems that would be either hubris or a clever marketing strategy. In any event, it is beautiful - and should be popular.
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Barney Very beautiful and relaxing music Barney. Thanks
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! The comment about Ponce's original melody was mentioned during the Tonebase lesson on the Canciones by Arturo.
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Andre Bernier Thanks Andre!
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Barney that's beautiful. As someone who's not great at vibrato yet, really loved it
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks Nijwm!
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Anido - Preludio Pampeano
I think I'll make this my last post of this piece. Maybe I can sneak one more in by the end of the challenge? (Not sure)
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Eric Phillips I'm not familiar with this composer, but that sounds beautiful!!
Am I correct that you have a thumb nail but no nails on the other fingers?
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Barney Thanks, Barney! Anido was a student and duo partner with Miguel Llobet. She had a solo career playing and teaching all over the world, but her compositions (like this one) were most often rooted in the music of her native Argentina. She has plenty of videos on YT. I love watching her perform live for large, enthusiastic crowds. In one video, a young Leo Brouwer is in the audience.
And no, all my nails are back. I was getting tired of having to put so much attention and effort into simply getting a decent sound. It was a good thing to try, but I think I’ll stick with nails now.
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Eric Phillips Thanks for the info about Anido. Forgive me, I've been away from the guitar and Tonebase for a few weeks as we have family visitors at my home, so I'm sure I missed your previous posts of this detail.
I was wondering about your nail status; Your tone and overall sound are excellent. so my opinion is-- you made the right choice.
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Eric Phillips Another beautiful performance of this lovely piece! As I hadn't heard of her before I did some research and found some lovely old recordings of her playing duets with Llobet
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Eric Phillips This very nice, Eric. Anido is a very good composer, I am surprised her music is more present in concerts and recordings. You are playing this beautifully.
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