Villa-Lobos Prelude No.1!
Welcome to our next Study Group — a collaborative, peer-led dive into one of the most iconic pieces in the guitar repertoire.
This time, we’re immersing ourselves in the soulful beauty of Villa-Lobos’ Prelude No. 1!
This is not a course or a class — it’s a space for mutual exploration, discussion, and shared progress. I’ll be learning the piece alongside you (it’s always full of new discoveries!), and I’m excited to go deep into this masterpiece together.
🗓️ What to expect:
Starting September 1st, we'll focus on:
🎯 Left-hand shapes and stretches in the opening section
🎯 Rhythmic flow and rubato in the arpeggio passages
🎯 Tone production and balance between voices
🎯 Interpretation, phrasing, and expressive choices
🎯 Your own questions, insights, and perspectives!
We’ll also meet for two live Zoom sessions to share progress, exchange ideas, and nerd out over all things Villa-Lobos.
✅ How to participate:
- Sign up through the Forum
- Grab your score of Villa-Lobos Prelude No. 1
- Introduce yourself below!
- Join the prompts and discussions!
- Share your thoughts, ideas, or a clip of your playing!
📅 Zoom Call #1 – September 5th, 8am PST 📅 Zoom Call #2 – September 12, 8am PST
55 replies
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How do some performances seem to create great glissandos without the surface noise while sliding? Or is due to how the recording is mic’ed?
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Will the Zoom sessions be recorded for catchup. Unfortunately I can't make the first one
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I hope to join the group call on Sept 5. I have played Prelude No 1 for several years. There is always something new to discover.
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This is my first time participating in a study group so I am unfamiliar with how things progress. Do we post questions/comments about technical/interpretative issues? Does the lions share of the work happen in the Zoom call? If I get nothing else from this group it has been a nice motivation to get this piece worked up again and to approach it with fresh ears (and eyes … I found a chord I’d misread ages ago and it, of course, wedged itself firmly into my memory). The first recording I bought of the 5 preludes was by Julian Bream from a 1976(?) album with some Scarlatti on the 2nd side. It’s interesting how much my own playing of this piece is still informed by that recording, which I listened to for the first time in decades this weekend. I did the YouTube rabbit hole and listened to many other recordings which was good – it helped purge the old conceptions and is making room for a new interpretation, informed more by my own experience and taste.
I play Prelude 3 on my audio wallpaper gigs – if I tone down the, shall we say bombastic portions of the B section, I might be able to use this one on those jobs as well. Which would be great because that means it’s much more likely to stay under my fingers.
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I also am new to these forum discussions and want to ask if one the more experienced participants will describe how to upload a video if it should come to that. I see an add video icon below but is it as simple as select that, browse for the video and go?
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I am struck with the 1st ending of part B of the piece. Any suggestions on how to practice the leaps between the bar chords and the XII fret harmonics? I’m also having trouble cleaning the stings with my lefthand fingers in bars 33-38. I am trying rotating my palm outwards away from the neck to align the fingers more in line with the shifting of fingers 3 and 4. Any suggestions on how to make these bars easier? Thank you
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Here is a single take while practicing the piece. Looks like I repeated a section in error and various other mistakes. Recording yourself is so helpful identifying problems.
I don't think I'll have time to record this piece again during the study group period, so wanted to at least show my status at this point.