![](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.forumbee.com/avatar/accd0ae87f28f35ab3f514934e65003a-1605042331257/h/40.jpg)
Week 1: "Villa-Lobos Vibe"
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "Villa-Lobos Voyage" practice challenge!
Select a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his Brazilian heritage. Whether it's a soulful Villa-Lobos composition, a rhythmic Brazilian-inspired work, or a piece by another artist inspired by the Brazilian musical tradition, the choice is yours!
Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Strive to practice daily and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This not only keeps you motivated but also allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
Share your favorite performance or recording that captures the spirit of the "Villa-Lobos-Voyage Challenge." Your submission will inspire others and create a vibrant collection of potential pieces for fellow members to explore.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
-
I'm also learning Prelude #3. I started a few months ago, so it's already some way along but still in progress. The things I find particularly challenging are
- Chord progressions in the first part - how to make the transitions smooth
- Removing the squicking - in chord progressions and in other parts. When I lift my hand to move to another place there's often sound
- Controlling the volume - there are so many parts that are very subtle and any note too soft or too loud is very noticeable, which is what always happens for me
- Relaxing while playing - this is hard for me no matter what I play...
Any suggestions from all you master players on the above points and anything else in my playing are welcome!
-
HVL Prelude 2 (Aug 5)
Here is an update after another couple days of practice. It is memorized, just from playing it a lot (like most of HVL’s pieces, it is not difficult to memorize).
By the way, I'm posting a photo of what the piece looks like as a sound file. Can you spot where the B section begins and ends? Not too difficult!
-
HVL Prelude 2 B section slow
Next, I want to focus on the string squeak issue in the B section. The obvious solution is to lift the three fingers on bass strings (1,3,4) while using the 2nd finger as a guide finger. I see two things that make it difficult for me to do that:
- After the shift, it is difficult to place the fingers down in precisely the correct spot, up on the fingertips.
- At speed, it feels like there is just not enough time to lift the fingers and re-place them.
So, it seems to me that the solution to these problems is to play the section very slowly, and once the motion is mastered at that speed, slowly bring the speed up. Here it is at a much slower speed. (Sorry for the big squeak at 0:35! I forgot to lift the fingers that time.)