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Week 4: Celebrating Global Connections
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Welcome to the "Around the World in 80 Strings Challenge"! This month, we'll embark on a global musical journey, exploring classical guitar compositions from various countries. The only rule: Don’t play a composer from your home country. Let’s make this a truly international experience!
CHALLENGE TIMELINE
- Challenge Start: Kick-Off on May 15th
- Duration: May 15th - June 24th
- Watch Party: June 24th
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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Well Paraguay does not sound very exotic for guitarists, but I guess it qualifies for the challenge. This is the Tango #2 by Barrios (it's not clear if there is a Tango #1 - if anyone knows of it please let me know).
Anyway, the opening phrase which repeats throughout the piece is very tricky, and will require a bit more work - although I'm not sure how to practice for improvement here - it simply is an awkward figure - a cutaway guitar would help (I think) but that sort of thing is not my scene - color me conservative.
I decided to play this because I finally acquired the 4th Stover Barrios collection, and chose this piece for its jaunty and playful nature - but as usual Barrios was never motivated to make things easy.
Only problem is that the piece kinda gets stuck in your head - I really need to displace it with something a bit more languid.
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Sor Op 60 No 16 (June 10)
Here is snapshot of my continued journey into playing without fingernails. For this study, it just did not feel right to place my pinky on the fingerboard, so my hand position is more similar to where it had been previously, before I cut my nails off. In order to get a decent sound, I need to plant more on the fleshy pad of the finger. I also really need to “grip” the string with the flesh of the finger just before plucking. It doesn’t sound horrible, but I don’t think it’s as nice as my tone was with fingernails. I also find I have less control over the sound and the dynamics. I’m hoping that, with time, my sound and control will develop.
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Sor Op 60 No 16 (June 10 again)
Okay, I’m going to really geek out here and post the exact same piece as I just posted a few hours ago. It was bugging me that I wasn’t able to play it with my pinky placed on the soundboard, but I figured out why. It’s because I was trying to play it with the same right hand fingering I had played this piece with in the past. Once I limited myself to p i and m, I could put my pinky down. This also improved my tone a bit, and especially gave me much more dynamic control. I basically played almost the entire melody with my m finger, which right now is giving me the best tone.
After listening back to this recording, I have also learned that I need to cut my pinky nail (for some reason, I had not cut it off). I’m pretty sure that most of those scratchy noises in the recording are coming from my pinky nail scratching the soundboard.
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Lutoslawsky Folk Melodie #3 Jest drozyna (There Is a Path)
I am not able to practice very much for the time being due to a slice on the tip of my 'm' finger. It is actually heading pretty well but is still a bit tender and I certainly don't want to re-open it.
I'll continue to practice the Ravel piece - slowly and quietly. As a break I decided to try the 3rd Folk Melodie by Lutoslawsky. It is interesting how difficult it has been for me to learn this piece as it is not very challenging.
This is the best of a very large collection of efforts. I'm playing too fast and don't have the dynamics. Still lots of work. Hopefully I can do another recording of this and the Ravel piece. I leave on the 20th for 3 days of the GFA in Fullerton, Ca, so I should have time.