Week 3: Rhythm Everywhere! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of the "Music from Latin America" challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- click)
Do you struggle with complicated rhythms?
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Sergio Assad - Farewell (another take)
Before I joined Tonebase, I didn't even know who Sergio Assad is. His etudes were the first thing I played after joining Tonebase (I only practiced the first 5 though). I didn't upload them because I didn't know how to record myself at that time. After a few months, I am now enjoying his music and being able to upload videos here, so thank you, Martin & Tonebase.
After one week of practice, I can't say I played better than the last time, fixed some spots I failed to play last time, but got new mistakes elsewhere. Anyway, it's a beautiful piece of music.
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Wai Great playing, Wai! You really captured the mood of this beautiful piece. I remember the Assad challenge well, especially the watch party with the composer himself joining us. One of many ways that Tonebase has enriched my musical life.
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Eric Phillips Thanks, Eric. Yeah, I did watch the playback, and I remember you were the only one who actually did the composition part and was praised by the master himself, really amazing.
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Wai He was very kind. I hate to say it, but I really don't like writing music very much.
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Wai yesss!
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Wai Beautiful! You really capture the melancholy atmosphere of the piece. Also, very nice phrasing. As a small humble critique, the only thing that slightly distracts from your excellent performance is a little left hand string noise in chord shifts. Those Carlevaro exercises for the left hand from Cuaderno #3 should help with that. In any case, you play wonderfully and very controlled, and I like very much the feeling of longing that emotes from your performance.
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Dale Needles Thank you, Dale. I just ordered the Microestudios yesterday, can't wait to practice Carlevaro's exercises again!
And thanks god, I can find Carlevaro's left-hand exercises on Tonebase! -
Wai Bravo! As said Eric and Dale, you really got the mood of this piece. Thank you for sharing with us!
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Wai this sounds lovely Wai. It’s a beautiful piece, you have a great feeling for it.
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Moyses Lopes Thank you, Moyses.
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joosje Thank you, joosije. Playing this piece was quite exhausting emotionally in fact. It's beautiful but sad.
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Wai Beautiful Wai
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Barrios – País de Abanico (Apr 23 update)
Here I'm playing it all the way through, from memory. I promised myself just one take today, so there are many, many mistakes. It's really just a snapshot of where I'm at with it right now. I do hear improvement, so I'm getting there.
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Eric Phillips You made very good progress with this. It is almost there. Never heard this piece before, reminds me of something that could be a film score. In any case, thanks for introducing us to it.
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Dale Needles Thanks, Dale. I've tried to find out some background of the piece, but I've struck out. I don't think it's a film score, but it does have that feel. You know, a good idea for a community challenge would be film score music. In this challenge alone, I can think of two pieces that were from films (Farewell and Balada de Martin Fierro), and another one that I'm surprised we haven't heard yet is Un Dia de Noviembre (although I think someone may have said they are working on that one). Did Carlevaro do any film music?
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Eric Phillips Intersting idea for a challenge. Carlevaro did write one piece entitled Musica Incidental para Cine. Although, not sure if it was used for any films.
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Eric Phillips This reminds me of some of the finger style guitar I used to listen to (maybe Stefan Grossman or somebody?). It is a very gentle lilting piece, though it certainly has its challenges. Well done.
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Brouwer - Estudio Sencillo No 3
I will continue to submit these studies as I work on the Barrios piece above.
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Eric Phillips That was excellently done , Eric. I used to be rather lukewarm to these pieces, but I am having to revise my assessment.
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Eric Phillips nice Eric. Continue this series. It’s sounding great!
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Eric Phillips Great execution! Thank you!
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Here is another milonga by Abel Carlevaro. This one was written sometime in the 1960s but was published in the 1990s when Carlevaro rediscovered his manuscript, made some revisions to it and then dedicated it to his wife, Vani. It is written in the classic A-B-A form in which the B section, the most challenging, expands on the main theme. The rhythm is derived from the classic milonga dance of the Rio de la Plata region. It should be noted that the complete name of Uruguay is the República Oriental del Uruguay which literally means the republic east of the Uruguayan river, thus the name Milonga Oriental.
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Dale Needles This is an interesting piece. It is, sometimes, rather straight forward but then there are these strange harmonies and interjections that are delightfully startling, Excellent playing, as usual, Dale.
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Jack Stewart I know what you mean. It starts as a pretty classic milonga but then in the B section takes you into those strange harmonies and some unexpected places. As an early composition by Carlevaro, it foreshadows what he does with his Preludios Americanos.
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Dale Needles Well done, Dale. Like Jack, I enjoyed the harmonies. I'm glad you explained the title. Without that, I would be wondering why it doesn't sound Asian.
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Dale Needles what an interesting piece. I never heard it. You play it really beautifully, Dale. Thank you for sharing this
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
