Week 1: A Continent Full of Music! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the "Music from Latin America" challenge!
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What do you connect with Music from Latin America?
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Antonio Lauro loved Venezuelan children's songs. Here are five short little arrangements he made of the following Canciónes Infantiles Venezolanas: Palomita Blanca, La Barca, El Trompo, El Cocherito, and Palomita. The first photo is of Lauro as a child. He is the one on the far left. The second photo is Lauro with his son Leonardo and daughter Natalia, who he dedicated his most famous Valse.
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Dale Needles Both the photos and the song arrangements are such treasures. I really enjoyed watching and listening. Thanks, Dale!
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Eric Phillips Thanks. These arrangements by Lauro are real gems. There are 18 arrangements in the manuscript that I have.
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Dale Needles lovely!thank you- I did not know
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Dale Needles Good to hear these pieces, thanks for sharing, you played lovely!
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Barrios – Oración (Apr 9 Update)
I was able to practice this some more today, so I'm posting an update. One thing that I noticed in my first video of this piece is how there was not a clear distinction between the melody and accompaniment (and, yes, I heard Emmanuel's voice telling me
). I tried to improve that here. Let me know if you think it is better. Here are some of the things causing me trouble in this piece:
- I am having a good deal of left hand pain, in the muscles at the base of my thumb and between my thumb and first finger. There are quite a few barres and stretches in this piece, and it is rather long. By the end of it, my hand really hurts.
- Measures 25-26 (see picture below): I mess up these measures almost every time I play them, despite practicing them a lot. The fingerings are just so difficult, but I see no other solution.
- Measures 37-43 (see picture below): I know this is a lot measures, but each one is very challenging for me.
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Eric Phillips I was just watching your previous session and the notification of this new video popped up on my screen, wow, you were fast!
Every time I played pieces with a lot of barre chords, my left hand hurt due to the fatigue of the thumb muscle (not sure how it's called in English, sorry). I am not sure if your case was the same as mine, but trying to rely more on gravity than muscle helped in my case.
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Eric PhillipsI love it and it is more seperated now! Sometimes the pain goes away when your hand knows the peace for you try to feel each tone under your first finger and only give impulse there but it lasts to know the peace so well. I sometimes try to do such passages very slowly by heart to get rid of unnessesary pressing.
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Eric Phillips As said Wai, you're really fast! I think your goal was achieved, the lines are so fluid, and this is sounding so nice. But you know, every piece needs time to mature. Thank you!
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Wai Thanks, Wai. I have heard about the idea of using gravity more for barres. I watched a video about it here on Tonebase (I can't remember the teacher). I just can't figure out how it is achieved. Maybe I'll go try to find that video and watch it again.
By the way, I have no idea what the English word for the thumb muscle is! I would just call it "thumb muscle" too.
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks, Stefanie, I appreciate the advice.
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Moyses Lopes Thanks, Moyses. I agree that, like wine and cheese, music needs time to mature.
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Sounding really musical Eric. I have not heard this piece so far and you are bringing it to life for me. It is good to see you working through the technical challenges and to my ears, meeting them as the movements become more familiar. Keep up the great work on this!
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Rick Lord
Thank you, Rick, I appreciate the encouragement. This one is new to me as well. Musically, it's pretty simple, and it doesn't sound like it would be difficult to play. I keep telling my hands that!
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First attempt for this challenge. El Negrito by Lauro. It's a fairly simple piece but fun to play. The start of the second section is a bit tricky to get the chord shape (there is a slight pause - too long to pass off as rubato! - in the first time through). Needs a bity more work I think - the pull offs at the start of the first section are a bit weak.
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Derek That's a beautiful piece, Derek! I read the score some years ago but I can't remember why I didn't play it. Well, there is always time. Thanks for sharing and lightening up my memory.
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Moyses Lopes Thank you Moyses - I played it a few years ago so I have just re visited it.
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Derek it is a beautiful peace!
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Derek This is a great little study in the form of a Valse. It pairs well with the study that I posted earlier in the week, entitled "La Catira" which means the fair one. Thanks for playing it.
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Derek Nice, Derek! Lauro is so great.
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Derek That was pretty nice, Derek. It didn't look that simple to me, but with a bit more work I think you will have down.
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks Stefanie
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric
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Derek beautiful Lauro. Thank you for sharing, Derek. I’d love to hear more of this.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
