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! ↓
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Working on the gavota, the piece was mentioned here before. It is still very fresh and I am playing from the score, so I recorded the three sections separately. There are a few specific spots where fingering is complicated (endings of A and C section). I’ll revise the fingerings and will keep practicing and posting updates.
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joosje Thank you for sharing these. What a pretty tune in your hands. I look forward to more!
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joosje Great beginning. I love this Suite and Gavota is my favorite piece of the set. Thanks for sharing.
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joosje You are playing this really well, if i get any where near you this I will be well pleased.
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joosje Wow you're doing an impressive job at both reading and musicianship as it's a fresh learning!
This is indeed, with the Valse, my favorite movement of the suite. Can't wait to hear how you'll render it by the end of the challenge! -
joosje I love this Suite and you really capture the essence of it in your playing Joosje. Well done!
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joosje Already sounding very good, Joosje. Tempo seems perfect! Beautiful tone too, especially in the 'B' section. Definitely looking forward to hearing it when it's all put together.
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joosje This is wonderful, Joosje. Your playing is really well defined and musical, especially for just beginning the piece. I am looking forward to hearing your progress.
I don't know this work. I would never have guessed it was by Vill-Lobos.
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joosje this is great! Such a pretty piece. Really looking forward to hearing you put everything together.
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joosje What a sweet melody, and you play it so tenderly, Joosje! I can't wait to hear it all together.
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Spare Machine Dale Needles Jacques farmer Ron David Krupka Jack Stewart Eric Phillips thank you for your kind words. I hope to record a complete version later this week. The C section holding me back until now. Some technical issues.
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joosje ooh, this is going to be so sweet when it all comes together! Such a lovey job so far Joosje!
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This morning's rendition of "Pobre Cega." I tried to bring out the melody more. I think I just ended up playing that louder (and not necessarily more voice-like). Still some wrong notes, timing issues, and such, but there a few little phrases that I was pleased with!
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Spare Machine Mark I can certainly hear the melody more - well done! Was that accompaniment from a cockerel in the background?
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Spare Machine I think you have made improvement. The melody does stand out more a times. I would recommend taking this a phrase at a time and working to get it balanced between bass and melody and work on the melody for that particular phrase to flow as you want it to. Tis will seem slow at first but as you proceed it will become easier. You are doing great but trying to refine the entire piece at once is overwhelming - take it from me. I need to learn to practice what I preach!!!!
I see you have replaced the crickets with a rooster. That's a nice touch. It gives it a foreboding quality - even biblical ('before the cock crows 3 times!")
or - "maybe the rooster ate your crickets"
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Spare Machine such a nice early morning serenade, with accompanying back vocals… your voicing is really good now. Well done, it’s is a good interpretation. Keep going…
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Ron Yes, accompanied by one of my roosters, Caramel. hahahah
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Spare Machine The rooster actually had very good musicality. Some of the passage looks really hard but the melody is already quite defined. Great job!
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Spare Machine Keep up the great work Mark! You're making good progress. I'm sorry I'm not more familiar with this tune, otherwise I could make some more comments. I am curious what kind of Cordoba guitar that is, though.
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Steve Pederson Cordoba C4-CE African Mahogany Cutaway Classical Acoustic-Electric Edgeburst
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Spare Machine Very cool!
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As this is a challenge I’ll go for it. Like Eric I always shied away from prelude#2. Now is the chance to work on this great piece. I managed to record the first section, today. Not final yet, but a starting point. The challenge here is to place the tempo variations naturally, keeping the pulse.
for the B part, I struggled with the stability of my LH. i tend to put (and keep) too much pressure in the chords. At the end fatigue. It’s a long passage if you can’t relax in between. So, like Eric I practice at slow tempo so I can release pressure when shifting between positions. I had no time today to record this, today, but I plan to do that coming days.for now just section A
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joosje wow I wouldn't know you just started if you didn't say so. It already sounded very musical and polished. Looking forward to B section to hear the contrast.
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joosje That was amazing,Joosje. As Don noted, you already have the first section at a very high level. I can't wait to see your next video for this piece.
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joosje Very nice. Looking forward to the B section.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
