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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Pedro Ramirez Sanchez – Madrigal
I found a video of this on YT performed by David Jacques. According to him, Sanchez was from Argentina and lived from 1885-1959. I found the score in a set of five pieces by him published in 1939 (see attached file). I have not been able to find out anything more about him, so if someone knows anything, please let me know.
This piece has a very sweet and beautiful melody. Listening back to my video, I can tell right away that I need to bring down the volume of my accompaniment a lot in order to bring out that melody.
This was not intentional, but I have noticed that all five of the pieces I have played in this challenge have been from Argentinian composers, and all but one of them has been in drop D tuning. If I ever get a second guitar, I think I’ll just keep one in standard tuning and one in drop D, since I play with that tuning so often. That low D in the bass just makes the guitar resonate so beautifully.
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Following Eric's lead, here is another little gem from Argentina from the guitarist/composer Abel Fleury (1903-1958). The title is Estilo Pampeano. Fleury was well known in Argentina during his time and is associated with the Argentine actor/poet, Fernando Ochoa with whom he collaborated. He also toured as a soloist throughout Latin America and Europe, performing pieces by Latin American composers.
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Brouwer Tres Apuntes II 2nd attempt
I think this is a little better. A bit more cohesive, perhaps. (except for the ending). I am getting more comfortable with it though I still need work on dynamics and phrasing. At least I'm not tapping my foot. (I made a whole series of recordings earlier and you could hear my foot tapping in all of them. It drove me nuts. )
I will start to try to put I and II together over the next few days.
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Hi, everyone, this is second take on Leo Brouwer's Un Dia De Noviembre. I'm somewhat satisfied with this, although there's still a lot of room for improvement. Slurs, harmonics and vibrato are my obvious weak points. Not the best video recording and I was sweating a lot from the humid Indian summer. No AC or fan because I was worried about the background noise. Anyways, hope you guys can give me some constructive comments. Thanks for watching.