WEEK 2: La Guitarra Espanola! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of our musical Journey to Spain!! This is the place to share submissions of the second week! 
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ HAPPY PRACTICING, HAPPY SHARING ↓
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A slow and majestic interpretation of the Gaspar Sanz piece "Pavanas". There were a few clams towards the beginning, but I felt this take was worth keeping, as I think there were some beautiful moments that I felt captured the essence of the piece.
I added quite a bit of reverb, as I thought that's how it would sound being played in a cathedral in Spain.
Gaspar Sanz was a composer, guitarist and priest that went to the University of Salamanca in Salamanca Spain. I found a picture of the Cathedral in Salamanca and looked at while rehearsing. It totally changed how I interpret the piece - giving more space at the end of the phrases for the sounds to reverberate throughout a cathedral.
A couple challenges I found with this piece -
- The trill in measure 2 is really difficult to pull off (literally) without hitting, and therefore muting, the open B string.
- The intonation in the ascending C, D, E and F chords towards the end is really bad. After recording this I decided to leave out the doubled octave note, which doesn't seem necessary and is causing the problem.
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joosje thank you!
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Steve Pederson Nice sound and well played, Steve. It's funny, I think Sanz might have the most videos so far in this challenge. I would not have guessed that when the challenge began.
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Eric Phillips thanks, yeah, I saw some right away the first week. It's like everyone had all this pent-up Sanz within them and finally had an outlet to express it!
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Steve Pederson Really well played! Before joining this community challenge, I have never heard of Gaspar Sanz (In fact, I know only a few classical composers
). Now, after hearing many people playing his music in this challenge, I also want to play it myself. One of the best things about joining community challenges is exploring something new and finding new music to play. -
Steve Pederson that was great Steve! This is exactly the piece I intended to play for last week submission... but I was missing out time... thanks for playing it!
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Wai thanks! Well said. This challenge has introduced me to a lot of new stuff - and new ways of playing stuff I already know.
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Blaise Laflamme thanks so much!
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Steve Pederson This is a very interesting piece. It seems more complex than most of what I know of Sanz, Nicely played. Thanks.
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Steve Pederson wow, absolutely fantastic submission!!!
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Steve Pederson great playing Steve - I also love this song very much
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Great, Steve Pederson ! Great job, great choice, very nice played! Bravo!
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Jack Stewart thanks. You know, it's interesting, most of Sanz's work I'm familiar with is composed with repeated sections or repeated parts. This one doesn't have that.
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Martin Thanks!
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Olli thanks!
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Moyses Lopes thank you!
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Steve Pederson beautifull sound and feelings...thanks!
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Rodrigo En los Trigales
Well, I almost got the initial recording in the first week. This needs a lot of work but I feel I am within the ballpark. The middle section is pretty shaky, as is the ending.......
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Jack Stewart That is great, Jack! It’s coming along very nicely so far! I’m struck by how well you are executing the complex rhythms. That’s what I always find most difficult in pieces like this.
By the way, I think you labeled this post incorrectly, as that was En Los Trigales.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. I don't know if you saw Emmanuel's masterclass yesterday. I presented Da Falla's Homenaje - That set the standard for botched rhythm as well as botched everything else. But I am determined to get a handle on it.
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Eric PhillipsThanks for the tip. I just repaired the damage. Both of these pieces are works I have wanted to play for a long time. They are really throwing for a loop but I am glad I am working on them now.
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Jack Stewart Yeah, fantastic to see your first submission for our month Spanish music exploration, and what a spirited entry with "En los Trigales"!
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Jack Stewart wow Jack - what a wonderful piece - well played too
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Jack Stewart Congrats for taking on this wonderful and challenging piece. Very well done!
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Jack Stewart bravo Jack!!! hard piece!! and you play it with a lot of rhythm and energy!
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Jack Stewart thanks for introducing me to this piece. I've never heard it before, and I think you did a really great job - especially considering how complex it seems. Way to go!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
