Week 3: Waltzes and Whirls 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of "Song and Dance" practice challenge!
Choose a piece that is inspired or transcribed from a song or a dance. It could be a lively south-american danza, a passionate tango, a serene romantic lied, or a poignant aria transcribed for the guitar. You're welcome to explore pieces from unfamiliar composers or challenge yourself with a complex work.
Commit to daily practice and share your journey with the community. Aim to practice every day and upload at least two videos each week to illustrate your progress. This will not only help you stay committed and encouraged but will also allow you to share your musical voyage with our tonebase family.
Share your favorite piece or recording that embodies the theme of "Song and Dance." Your submission will serve as an inspiration to others and create a vibrant pool of potential pieces for other members to delve into.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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I am still working on Canarios, but when I went to the LA Guitar Festival I heard one of the luthiers - Jack Sanders - performing it on his period-specific guitar and I just thought...that's how it's SUPPOSED to be done! The first video is of him playing part of that - reading from the early tablature. I then heard just about everybody else playing that song, and suddenly it doesn't seem so compelling to learn it. It is a crowd pleaser, though, so I will continue to work on it.
Another man that was at the festival was Christopher Parkening. His lesson book was the first lesson book I had for classical guitar, so it has a special place in my heart. There are two songs in the back of the book - or at least in the back of me edition from 1972 - one of which (Kemp's Jig) I have continued to play throughout my guitar career.
Here are the last two songs from that book; Italian Dance and Kemp's Jig...
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Steve Pederson Great job, Steve. The Italian dance is very stately and reserved, which your performance brings out beautifully. In contrast, Dowland kicks up his heels a bit more. You have wonderful precision in your performances which really accentuates the dance nature of the pieces. Thanks for these.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric!
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Andre Bernier Thanks Andre!
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! Do you recognize the piece as a Dowland piece? In my book it just says "Anonymous". ? Also, I forgot to mention that the Italian Dance is by a guy named Hans Neusidler.
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Steve Pederson Jack Stewart Yes, Kemp's Jig is definitely Dowland. The Neusidler piece that Parkening labeled as "Italian Dance" is actually called "Ein welscher tanz" which translates to "French Dance." Here's a performance of it by Ronn McFarlane. It really needs to go quite fast to bring out the dance quality.
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Eric Phillips So, in other words, everything I've ever been told has been a lie!
Kidding, but that is funny - the publisher even has Hans' name misspelled in the book. So, it's not Hans Neusiedler, it's Neusidler, it's not "Italian Dance" it's "French Dance" and Kemp's Jig is not "Anonymous" but rather Dowland. Makes me wonder what else I've been lied to about! Thanks for sharing that version of the French Dance! I'm glad I didn't hear that until AFTER I recorded it! I don't think I could get it up to that tempo.
So I just "YouTubed" Kemp's Jig and they all came up as Anonymous - even Julian Bream's version. However, there was one version with guitar and flute that said it was by Dowland. Oh, Christopher Parkening - you've led so many people astray!
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Steve Pederson Maybe I’m wrong about Kemp’s Jig. Newsidler’s name I have seen spelled in a variety of ways (including the way I just typed it).
I’ve been told that Fernando Sor was actually named Fernando Sors.
Oh, and Andres Segovia was actually named John Smith.
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Steve Pederson Actually you right. I am not sure why I assumed it was Dowland but I just looked up a bunch of YT and they all mention it is 'anonymous'. As to the Italian Dance by a German lutenist,
OK, - I just read the string of posts after your comment to me. So, apparently Kemp's Jig is by Dowland under an assumed (non)name and the Italian Dance by a German composer is actually a French Dance by a Slovakian composer (Neusidler was born in what is now Slovakia). Seems things were pretty loose and fluid in the Renaissance.
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Steve Pederson Great work, Steve! Is that Italian dance... or French dance from the Renaissance era as well? The more I play and listen to Baroque and Renaissance music, the more I enjoy it. Plus, seeing Eric play the lute makes me want to give it a try too!!
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Steve Pederson great Steve, I very like your Kemp's jig version. It reminds me years at the college when some friends did play it at that time.
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Wai Thanks Wai! As far as the date on the Italian Dance is concerned, my book says that Hans lived a short life of 55 years from 1508-1563. However, in light of recent developments I'm not sure if that is even trustworthy information!
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you Blaise. I did not realize so many people were so familiar with this tune!
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Steve Pederson Eric Phillips Jack Stewart Wai Nice performances, Steve. (And thanks for sharing the video of Jack Sanders!) About the 'Italian' dance: it is from the first volume of Hans Newsidler's 1536 publication 'Ein newgeordent kunstlich Lautenbuch' ('A newly-arranged artful lute book'). At the head of the piece is printed: 'hie folget ein welscher tanz Wascha mesa' ('here follows a welsh dance 'Wascha mesa'). The term 'welscher' here refers to southern (Europe), not Wales in Great Britain. 'Wascha mesa' is evidently a German rendering of 'Passamezzo' a popular Italian folk-dance of the era. In the original, the piece is followed by 'der hupff auff' ('the 'hop on'') a dance in triple time based on the same thematic material. (It can be heard in the Ronn MacFarlane recording.) Here is a link to a modern edition of the two dances for lute (rendered in 'French' tablature):
And just for fun, here is a link to a facsimile of the first two pages of the original, which is notated in the much dreaded 'German' tablature:
https://www.lutemusic.org/facsimiles/NewsidlerH/Ein_Newgeordent_Kunstlich_Lautenbuch/v.1_1536/t1.png
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David Krupka Wow David! This is so cool! Thanks for sharing all this. This is turning into quite the learning opportunity.
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Steve Pederson Nice job with these two dances. Really liked both pieces but tend towards the Italian Dance. Like your use of dynamics and great tone!
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Steve Pederson Those are sounding really good, Steve. Hope you enjoyed the convention. And I still have those Parkening books. Decades ago I remember buying them and thinking "Finally, I'll be able to play like him." Lol. Not so much.
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Dale Needles Thanks so much Dale!
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Steve Price Thanks Steve! Yes, we can always hope, can't we?
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David Krupka OK, this is getting ridiculous. So what we have is an Italian Dance that is called Welsh Dance that is actually a French Dance? Did I miss anything?
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Jack Stewart Let me guess, it's an Italian Dance that is called Welsh Dance, but nothing to do with Welsh and was mistakenly thought to be a French dance. As it turns out, it's actually a German interpretation of the Italian dance..... mmm....I'm not sure if my English skills are quite advanced enough to fully comprehend it!
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Steve Pederson very nice! I 've not heard much of Baroque and Renaissance music before this challenge. Like Wai said, I'm starting to catch the Baroque and Renaissance bug too. Thanks for sharing!
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Here is an early composition by Abel Carlevaro, most likely written in the early 1960s. It is based on the rhythm of the milonga dance, famous in the Rio de la Plata region and is called Milongueando (milongering).
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Dale Needles Nice, Dale! That is quite a jaunty tune. It kind of sneaks in after the intro. Great job and thanks for sharing this.
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Dale Needles beautiful Dale, it's very interesting to hear he already has his tonal color at his early stage of composing.
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Dale Needles Lovely, Dale! It feels like someone going out for a nice walk.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
