Home Country Hero Mini Challenge

GREETINGS TONEBUDDIES! 🎶

Our musical journey continues! This month, we’re venturing into a challenge that pays homage to our roots. As each of us possesses a unique musical heritage, what better way to celebrate than by diving deep into the melodies that have shaped our cultures, identities, and histories? Let's embark on the "Home Country Hero Challenge" together and weave a tapestry of diverse soundscapes. 🎸

🌟 THE CHALLENGE: 🌟

We invite you to record and upload a video of yourself performing a piece by a composer from your home country or your heritage. Dive deep into the traditions, styles, and stories that these compositions bring to the fore and enlighten us on how they resonate with your own cultural connection. Feel free to share a composition from another country than your own, if you have something that you deeply connect with!

📹 HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 📹

Record a video of yourself performing your chosen piece from your home country. Upload your video to your preferred platform (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Share the link to your video in the comments section below. Along with your performance, narrate a short backstory of the composer and the significance of the piece in your culture.

Bonus Points: Share a link to a performance of your chosen piece by a renowned guitarist from your country!

🤝 INTERACT AND ENGAGE: 🤝

Let's travel the world through our strings! Engage with your fellow tonebuddies by leaving comments, offering constructive feedback, and expressing appreciation for their cultural revelations. Let’s connect deeper, not just through music but through our shared human stories.

🏆 REWARD: 🏆

While there's no tangible prize, the reward lies in the bridges we build, the knowledge we share, and the connections we foster with guitarists worldwide. You might just find yourself inspired by a faraway land!

🎶 READY, SET, EXPLORE! 🎶

We're keen to embark on this global musical voyage with you, uncovering hidden gems and rediscovering national treasures. Let's celebrate the diversity and richness that each of our musical heritages brings to the global guitar community.

HAPPY PLUCKING, TONEBUDDIES! 🎉

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    • Jack Stewart
    • Retired
    • Jack_Stewart
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

     Bogdanovic Monk-A-Ning - Final

    I recorded this right after the  HVL Etude #5. I made 2 takes and I think this was the better of the 2. I was so fried from all the Etude recordings I decided to leave it at this one. For the most part I am pretty happy with it. The stumples were kept to a minimum. 

    This will probably be my last submission as we are leaving on Monday for a month in Spain, Portugal and a bit of France.

    Like 6
      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Marilyn Blodget Thanks Marilyn

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    • Jack Stewart Not sure why it does not open, but I tried today as well as it did not open for me either.  In any case, his workshop should still be there and if you got 30 minutes to spare, it is well worth a visit.  Also, here is our favorite museo in Madrid.  Definitely worth checking out and it also has a great restaurant for lunch.  Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum Madrid (museothyssen.org)

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    • Jack Stewart something I'm also interested in... those 2 books are available on Oz website!

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    • Jack Stewart super. I liked it so much. Enjoy your trip, Jack!

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      joosje Thanks Joosje. Will do!

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    • don
    • don.2
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    Little white boat:

    A really short piece but long story. Everyone here in Singapore learn to sing this in nursery. It was one of my favorite.  Back in 2001-2 I accompanied my friend and attended my very first classical guitar recital by Kazuhito Yamashita and he played his arrangement of this piece.  I remembered coming out of the recital in awe and wondered how did he managed to create so many different tones with just one hand.  

     

    I regretted not getting his CD then as many years later when I finally caught the classical guitar bug and remembered his performance of this piece again, his CD was already out of print and there are no arrangement of it that can be found So all that's left of that was just a vague memory of awe and wonder. 

     

    Couple of months back I found an arrangement of this on guitardelcamp, it is far from what I remembered Yamashita played but it is good enough to bring back fond memories. I never really played it before but it is easy enough to play through. 

     

    There is another twist, I discovered then that this piece was originally written in 1925 in Korea and it is not a lullaby for children. A man wrote this for his sister who had gone mad after losing her husband (in a war I think). His sister would stared blankly into the night skies and the lyrics of the piece was him wondering what she saw.  So the lullaby that I loved so much has such morbid meaning. 😂

    Like 1
    • don what a story! But such a sweet melody. Nice.

      Like 1
    • don Whar a lovely piece!  I like it much better as a children’s song.  Perhaps the composer’s sister found solace in this music.

      Like 1
  • It took me a while to decide if these pieces from the renaissance would fit here. I made a quick recording of these songs that were probably well known to generations of Dutch families over the 16th/17th century. Two lute composers made the arrangements.

    Susanneken, arranged by Joachim van den Hove,, Antwerp 1567 – The Hague, 1620,  musician, teacher, composer based in Leiden (my home town).

    Slaep Soete Slaep, arranged by Nicolaas Vallet, Corbeny (near Paris) ca. 1583 – Amsterdam?, ca. 1645?,  worked mostly in Amsterdam.

    A composer with real international impact was Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Deventer 1562 - Amsterdam 1621, organ player, composer, musical director. Famous for his  psalm improvisations. I found an arrangement for guitar of his Psalm V.

    Like 4
    • joosje What a gift those were to listen to, Joosje! There is something about renaissance melodies and harmonies that feeds my soul. I could listen to music like this all day long. Your playing really captures the melancholic mood of the music. Your scalar runs have that strong-weak flow to them, even though you do not play them p-i or p-m. Please tell me you worked on these for a long time!

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      • David Krupka
      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      joosje Beautiful performances, as always, Joosje! Your selections seem entirely appropriate to the challenge, since in Belgium you  can lay claim to both Flemish and French musical heritages. (Perhaps an arrangement of Brel's 'Les Flamands" would have been particularly apt!? (Sorry, I don't really mean that, but I couldn't resist.) It's interesting to hear about your connection to van den Hove. He was only a few years younger than John Dowland, but his music (much of ir. at least) belongs to the tonal world of the early baroque, not the renaissance, which seemed to persist longer in England than elsewhere. (Which was a good thing, come to think of it, because it was their one and only 'Golden Age', musically speaking.) Another beautiful song arrangement by van den Hove is 'Windeken' (apparently of French origin, despite the title). There's a wonderful performance of it on YT (from Anthony Bailes) that is worth checking out. It would work perfectly on your 7-string guitar. (Actually, most of van den Hove's music would work well - but I still think you should get a lute!) I'll link the tablature in case you're interested in having a look at it. (You'll be able to sight read it without difficulty.)

       

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUJ7nAr-jU

      https://www.lutemusic.org/sources/D-B_berlin_state_library/mus_ms_autogr_Hove1_1615/pdf/035_windeken_hoveJ.pdf

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    • joosje Very lovely, and definitely appropriate for this challenge!  Thank you!  I really enjoyed them.

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    • joosje Brava, Joosje. Those were so beautiful and you played them so well.  I closed my eyes and you took me back to Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities.  Thank you. 

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      • David Krupka
      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips You're certainly right about the importance of stress in early music and the 'correctness' (in the positive sense!) of joosje 's interpretation. But we probably shouldn't assume that lutenists like van den Hove and Vallet were executing such passages any differently. Given the period they were active (late 16th/early 17th c.) and the kind of lutes they were using (eight courses for the former, ten for the latter ) it is altogether possible that they were employing I-m alternation on at least the treble strings. (Even Dowland who in most respects was a conservative is thought to have adopted this approach mid-career.) While there was no single 'standard' technique at this time, it is clear that p-i alternation gradually fell out of use during the 17th c. Thomas Mace, writing in 1676 recommends p-i alternation (if I recall correctly) only for those with short thumbs! (i.e. for those whose hand span in insufficient to comfortably negotiate all the courses from a single fixed position.)

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      joosje Those were beautiful, Joosje. I have been avoiding reacquainting myself with the Renaissance until I get a better handle on the ‘guitar’ repertoire ( as if that will ever happen). But your beautiful performance of these is really making me want to play some renaissance pieces. So, Joosje, thanks a lot for complicating my musical life! 🙂

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      David David, I beg to differ on your statement that the Renaissance was England’s ‘one and only golden age of music’.  I think the 1960’s certainly qualifies as a 2nd golden age for England. 🧔✌️

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      • David Krupka
      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Jack Stewart I take it you're thinking of Britten, Walton, and others who worked with Bream. Yes, I suppose a case can be made for a second golden age. Both 'Elizabethan' though!

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      • David Krupka
      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Jack Stewart Oh, wait, maybe you had something else in mind ... Yes, I agree, that might well constitute a second golden era, even for the long-hairs! (Mind you , I think the early 70's have to be included.)

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      @David Krupka  To me the early ‘70’s are still the 60’s - because of the slackers.

      Btw I have no idea how that middle emoji got there, but I fixed it.

      Like 1
      • David Krupka
      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Jack Stewart Some of the slackers are still slacking! (Actually, it's probably not fair to label someone who's managed to slack their way through six decades a 'slacker'!) As for emojis, I frankly can't figure most of them out. Hope you're enjoying Spain!

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    • Eric Phillips Marilyn Blodget David Krupka Dale Needles Jack Stewart thank you for your nice comments and lively communication following these sweet and simple pieces. Thank you especially David Krupka for your more in depth comments and the links. This thing to get myself a lute is an old wish, but I fear the choices I’d have to make (nails, technique) , since I’m not Julian Bream.

      Like 1
    • Jack Stewart you’re welcome 😌

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