Week 1: "Villa-Lobos Vibe"

Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "Villa-Lobos Voyage" practice challenge! 

  1. 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! 🎼

  2. 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. 🎥

  3. 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! ↓

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  • Great to hear all the Villa-Lobos music thus far for this challenge. I am out of town without a guitar so to join the fun, I am posting Etude #6 by Villa-Lobos which I posted in the Etude Challenge. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_LPQvH-2dU

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      Blaise Laflamme What!? Only 4-5-6?!! What a slacker!!!

      I am working on only #5 and I will be lucky if I can manage a reasonable rough draft by the end of the challenge.😓

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    • Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. I hope I show it can be done. BTW, how was the vamping trip?

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    • Jack Stewart I know I'm lazy... 😂 Lets see how we can help each other on #5!

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    • Dale Needles fantastic rendition, Dale. It seems so easy in your hands. 

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      Dale Needles It was great, though I'm not sold on vamping. It was pretty stressful driving a 20' van and it was very cramped. I prefer car camping. You are also more limited where you can camp.

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      • Jack Stewart
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      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      Blaise Laflamme I'm not sure how much help I would be for you. I am referring the Gabriel Blanca's TB lesson on #5. I think it is really good. I am trying, struggling with maintaining different levels for the separate voices. It is pretty slow going.

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    • Jack Stewart I'm sure you can help a lot! Thanks for the info about Bianco's lesson on #5, I'll take a look. For sure this study has a lot moving on with a few spots not easy to maintain legato of voices. I'm still at reading and go through step, I just started yesterday on #5.

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    • @Dale Needles  thanks also for the AC link. Fascinating…. May I join you, Blaise Laflamme Jack Stewart in reviving #5?

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    • joosje absolutely I would be more than happy to have you help us with #5!

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    • Blaise Laflamme that’s fine, if you can help me. There’s no VL piece without some tricky spots, where you think < how are others doing that….>

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    • joosje you're right, so many ways to finger HVL music with different goals!

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

      joosje Sure! Well, you can't join me in reviving #5 because I have never played it. 🙂

       But I am happy you are joining our little party. 

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  • HVL Prelude 2 (August 7)

    I didn't get to practice much at all yesterday, but today I worked pretty hard on it. The progress still seems minimal, which is always frustrating.

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    • Eric Phillips wow, you are definitely growing in this piece. Don’t get frustrated. The A section is really  beautiful (incl.  m 15!) . The B section is a also lot better already, getting more fluid. Takes time to get into your system, this kind of LH movement passages,  combining fluidity and power.  Great job, and I’m not being polite -I know what it takes….

      Like 1
    • joosje Thank you for the encouragement, Joosje!

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

      Eric Phillips I thought your left hand is already playing much more relax than before. Maybe not at what you wanted but progress is definitely noticeable. 

      Like 1
      • Ronnull
      • Ron.3
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips I can definitely hear the improvement in both sections Eric. The A section is realy sounding good and the B section is certainly flowing better. I think your progress is certianly more than minimal! Well done!

      Like 1
      • Ernesto
      • Ernesto.1
      • 1 yr ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips Bravo! That B section will flow soon. Once the movements are learned the hads will relax and do their thing! Great job!

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    • don Ron Ernesto Thank you all for the encouragement. As always, I am impatient and want it perfect now (actually, yesterday). 🙂

      Like 2
  • Man, I feel so lucky to hear all of you play. What a crew!

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  • If any of you know of Chicago-area organizations that are like in-person version of this, please hip me to those groups! Thank you!

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      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 1 yr ago
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      Spare Machine I just came across this website for the Classical Guitar Society of Chicago.

      http://chicagoclassicalguitarsociety.org

      Perhaps that could be of interest. (I am jealous since oakland doesn't have a CGS).

      Like 1
  • Congratulations to all, you are very good

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  • Work in progress

    Didn’t have the courage /energy yet, to record the whole prelude. This B section takes a lot of time. I worked on it with intervals, to prevent stress. I keep struggling with the part in 12th position sliding back to 2nd. 
    Within the time frame of this challenge it won’t be ready, but I will post updates. Two positive results of this week’s slow and intermittent practice: it’s memorized and I can play this section now several times in a row without feeling any fatigue or pain in my LH. But then, at times the RH gets tensed….. sorry for this noisy stuff. (Turn volume down)

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    • joosje Well done, Joosje! I think we are at about the same speed with the section, but you're adding more musicality. It is tiring to play, isn't it?

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