Steve Goss: Interpretation and Analysis | Harmony and Structure in Bach, Sor, and Falla (Feb 13) Questions / Suggestions
It's finally happening! 
We promised you Steve and I were going to go into the topic of analysis (and how to apply it to your interpretation), and here we are! 
This is going to be the first of three livestreams looking at the same set of three pieces from different analytical perspectives:
- This upcoming livestream will focus on harmony and structure
- There will be another one focusing on rhythm and rubato
- And the final one will look at musical style and using improvisation as a tool for learning repertoire
Now, I am personally going to be performing in all of these, and I am really excited 
I've never played most of these pieces before - looking forward to giving them a go.
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/steve-goss-style-interpretation-analysis-1
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like us to focus on?
In this series of three livestreams, Steve Goss discusses some of the intricacies of musical interpretation. This session focusses on harmony and structure; the second will explore rhythm, rubato, and feel; and the final session will look at musical style and using improvisation as a tool for learning repertoire.
Three set pieces are used in all the sessions throughout the series, to show how the ideas discussed can be applied across many styles of music: Bach, Prelude from the first cello suite (BWV 1007), Sor’s Study in C Op 6 No 8 (Study No 1 in the Segovia edition), and Falla’s ‘Homenaje, le tombeau de Claude Debussy’. tonebase instructor Mircea Gogoncea will be on hand to perform extracts of the pieces and try some of the techniques covered.
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Hi everyone, here are all the documents Steve used during this livestream! Enjoy and thank you so much for tuning in!
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Mircea Thank you !
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Mircea Thanks!
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Hi, Brilliant seminar - I'm catching up today from when I left off yesterday.
Will you be providing the sheet music and Prof Goss' comments sheets?
Regards
Dennis
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Dennis Greensmith Hi Dennis - thank you for the reminder! I just did. Go to the pinned comment above to download all six files we used in the stream!
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Hi, great seminar. You said that the Falla Homenaje score you will post here is out of copyright but has many errors. Which score(s) do you recommend as being accurate?
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Peter Hi Peter - in my opinion, almost everything is better than that version we used. So many inaccuracies and just... unwarranted, inexplicable changes.
If you go to IMSLP, you will find some versions that are not in the public domain in the US, but they are public domain in Canada (where IMSLP is hosted) and some other countries. Depending on where you live, it might be legal to download and use those.
If it is, I'd absolutely recommend the standard versions you can download from IMSLP!
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Mircea Thank-you!
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In the Video at 1:08:20 Prof Goss explains something about the way to play the imitation part - an interpretation but not the way the music is played - could someone explain what both Prof Goss and Mircea did as I cannot hear what the difference was?
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Dennis Greensmith Hi Dennis! I can answer that. You see the little grace note G? Steve was saying that most people play it as a short ornament (like I did when I sight read the piece at the beginning of the section), however, he thinks it should be played as a full-on quarter note.
Under certain conditions, grace notes are supposed to be played with their full rhythmical value, and Steve rightly pointed out that this is most likely one of them. Does that make sense?
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Mircea Thank you Mircea for taking the time to reply. The next question would be how do you know when to do that. Sorry for taking your time. Kind Regards Dennis
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Dennis Greensmith this one is going to be a lot more "fuzzy" of an answer, unfortunately. Basically, it depends on a number of different factors.
- Period: Playing grace notes at their full value will happen most commonly in the classical period (which Sor belongs to); you won't see this being done nearly as often in the romantic and after.
- Accentuated note: Full-value grace notes will only ever happen on accented notes, where the grace note creates some sort of tension (usually dissonance) that is resolved on the regular, full-value note following it.
- Grace note value: If the grace note has the same value as the notes before it (e.g. it's a sixteenth-note grace note following a passage full of sixteenth notes), it's much more likely to be played at full value. An eighth-note grace note in a quarter note passage will not generally ever be played full-length.
- Style and composer preference: Some composers are well-known for having preferred "long" or "short" grace notes. Tarrega, for example, liked most of his grace notes (especially ones followed by a glissando) extremely short - you would generally never do what Steve says in a Tarrega piece.
Basically, it's complicated, and musicians often disagree. Just keep in mind they are both valid options for certain music, so if you think you might be working on a piece from the historical context where this could be expected to happen, do play around and see what might work best.
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Mircea Thank you Mircea - a great explanation and the reason I asked was exactly the point you made - I do see different interpretations on aspects like these so it's good to get your view on such a point. Kind Regards Dennis
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acho que o mais importante é adaptar o caracter da peça aos modos ( todos tem caracteres diferentes) que o interprete deve ter em conta.......... tristeza ...raiva....
os musicos jazz principalmente do período do jazz modal fazem no
como este periodo for beber muito de Debussy ....atraves principamente do grande pianista bill evans está tudo explicado
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Great livestream!
It's so interesting to watch your harmonic analysis videos. They are "food for thought" on ways to listen, understand and think about the pieces and of course their interpretation. Would be great if you decide to make a livestream about Bach's lute suites, as you mentioned. Or one about the Goldberg variations (piano or guitar). Maybe doing analysis of very simple but contrasting beginner guitar pieces would be fun. Sorry for the long " wish list" .
Actually, one of the things, apart from all the great content, that "sealed the deal" for me to subscribe to Tonebase was the analysis Steve Goss made of the first prelude of the W.T.C.!
Looking forward to the next 2 sessions.
Thank you both!!!
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