Guess the Composer
Is anyone up for a little fun?
Give a listen to the five videos posted above. There is one from each of these early 19th century composers (in alphabetical order):
- Dionisio Aguado
- Matteo Carcassi
- Ferdinando Carulli
- Mauro Giuliani
- Fernando Sor
Can you figure out who wrote each piece? And, which one is your favorite?
I will wait for responses for a few days before I reveal the answers. Just to make it more challenging, don’t read anyone else’s replies until you write yours.
Happy guessing!
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Congratulations Eric, to guess the pieces and the authors I await the result, but I wanted to say that I like the ease of how you play (I always struggle) it would be nice if you did a lesson on how you approach the studio
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Giuseppe Gasparini Thank you for the kind words, Giuseppe. I would be happy to share a few thoughts. Can you explain what you mean by "how you approach the studio"? (Se preferisci spiegare in italiano, va bene.)
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Ciao Eric,quello che mi colpisce di più quando suoni è:la facilità e pulizia che fai sembrare un pezzo difficile facile, perciò la domanda è: come studi?fai tecnica?suoni lento?qual'è stato il percorso per arrivare a questo? ti ringrazio e mi scuso se le domande sono troppe
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Giuseppe Gasparini Thank you, Giuseppe. I think maybe a written response would work better than a video for those questions.
- As for me making difficult pieces seem easy, let me first say that nothing is easy. It's DIFFICULT to play an instrument. But I will say that I make a point of only working on pieces that I know I will be able to play reasonably well fairly quickly. If a piece is too hard, and demands my exclusive attention for many months, I know that I will get frustrated, lose motivation and never finish it. There is SO MUCH beautiful music that I can play, so I choose to focus more on that than on what I cannot play.
- I actually do not habitually work on technique, in the sense of having dedicated time to playing technique exercises every day. Occasionally I come across a technique exercise (usually here on Tonebase) that interests me, and I will try it for a while. When a piece I want to play has a technical obstacle, I will then work on my technique in that context. I do not have the discipline or motivation, however, to make a lot of progress all the time on my technique. Generally, I am happy with my technique as it is, and I try to play pieces that my technique allows me to play.
- I do use slow practice a lot, especially when a piece (or part of a piece) is on the more difficult side for me. I wish I were more disciplined about it!
I think it is very helpful to play something very slowly, but very well, being mindful of the small details going on in my hands and body as I play. My problem is having the discipline to stay at the slow tempo for a long time - I get impatient.
I apologize for the long response. There is so much to say! I appreciate your kind words, and I am also curious to hear your approach to playing. We are all students of one another here at Tonebase!
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Eric Phillips Thank you, a very useful answer for me, I'm here to reinvent the way to study
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What an interesting challenge Eric! Hard to say at first listen but I'm going to try with... Giuliani, Aguado, Sor, Carcassi and Carulli?
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise! I’ll reveal the answer in a few days.
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Eric Phillips no worries... just guessing!
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Blaise Laflamme I'm with Blaise!
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David Krupka I hope I'm right
... I haven't tried to search for them before or after to validate my choices, but at first listen those were my choices according to melody, harmony, pattern, style and how each sounds according to what I know from each of the composers. Can't wait to know the answers! 
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David Krupka Blaise Laflamme Thanks for playing along, guys.
I'll wait a bit to see if I get any more responses. -
Eric Phillips sure Eric, you got a great idea and lets see if others are willing to play!
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Really unsure.
Maybe D: Guiliani
E: Sor
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Immanuel Thanks Immanuel. I’ll post the answers in a few days.
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What a nice way to start my week. Very nice concert. Many thanks Eric Phillips
As you can imagine I have no clues about the composers for these lovely pieces. However I decided to ask for help from my friend ''Google''. Here are the results:
1- Can not recognize the piece
2- Allegro Moderato - Kazutaka Ogawa
This is not the same but surprisingly similar
3- Can not recognize the piece
4- Andantino in C major - Jonathon Shields
Again, similar but not the same
5- Can not recognize the piece
Well if google with all their data can't recognize the pieces I don't feel too bad.
Thanks again Eric. This was an interesting listening and exercise
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Andre Bernier Thanks for chiming in, Andre! Those are indeed the correct pieces for the second and fourth videos. The names you listed, of course, are the performers on these particular recordings, not the composers. I suppose the composers' names might be on the CD jackets, if you had them.
Just curious, how can you search in Google for music from a video? Did you search the URL addresses of the videos?
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Eric Phillips
Well cool. Finally Google is not that bad
Here is a link on how to set up your android phone or tablet to use the google assistant to recognize a song.
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/7535326?hl=en
Here is a link if you are using an I phone
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT210331
Thanks again
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Andre Bernier Thanks! I had no idea such a thing existed.
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Andre Bernier What a clever idea, Andre! Thanks for sharing your search results. I'm surprised Professor Google was unable to identify the piece Eric presents as 'C' - I would have thought it's well represented on YouTube.
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David Krupka Yes, in fact, it's on my YT channel. (Nobody go looking - that's cheating!)
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David Krupka
Keeping in mind that this feature is still a work in progress and that it is definitively better with popular songs with lyrics; this remains fun to use
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Giuseppe Gasparini Blaise Laflamme Andre Bernier David Krupka
Well, my little guessing game didn't seem to catch on too much, so here are the answers.
- Video A: Giuliani Andantino Op 40 No 23
- Video B: Aguado Study 12 from Método de Guitarra
- Video C: Sor Menuetto Op 2 No 1
- Video D: Carcassi Andantino Grazioso Op 59 No 1
- Video E: Carulli Moderato Op 333 No 1
Both Blaise and David got them all correct. They really know their early 19th century guitar composers!
And their prize is ... FREE ICE CREAM!!!!!!
Well, not real ice cream, but a really nice ice cream emoji! One for each of you.
Here you go:
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Eric Phillips Woohoo... oh yes... Ice Cream time! Maybe try it again in September when spring/holidays are done? I think this is a great idea!
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Eric Phillips I agree with Blaise - this was a wonderful idea! Even though I recognized several of the pieces, I had to remind myself of just what they were. And I enjoyed the 'detective work' involved in tracking down the source of those that were new to me. Luckily, my hunches paid off. (Note to Eric: the Aguado study is also in the 'Nuovo Metodo' of 1843, where it appears as 'Leccion 39'.) Now, concerning the prize, I hate to sound ungrateful, but are there any frozen yoghurt emojis?
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Blaise Laflamme I'm very impressed that you got them all right, just by recognizing the individual styes of the composers! You have good 'ears' indeed!
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
