Week 2: Rhythms of Brazil
GREETINGS, ESTEEMED TONEBUDDIES!
Are you ready to embark on a musical journey through the enchanting realm of Villa-Lobos and his South-American roots? With the new release of Douglas Lora's Preludes this Friday and the whole Suite Populare Bresilienne with Fabio Zanon in the making, we are thrilled to present the revamped "Villa-Lobos Voyage Extravaganza," an extraordinary experience celebrating the works of Villa-Lobos and composers influenced by his heritage. Over the next four weeks, dive into captivating compositions, exploring the rich tapestry of sounds and rhythms.
WHEN 
- Challenge Start: Official Kick-Off on July 30th
- Challenge Duration: July 30th - August 30th
- Watch Party of Selected Submissions: August 30th
HOW TO BEGIN 
Select a Piece:
- Choose a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his South-American heritage. Options include soulful Villa-Lobos compositions, rhythmic Brazilian-inspired works, or pieces by other artists inspired by South-American musical traditions.
- Choose a mesmerizing piece from Villa-Lobos or a composer connected to his South-American heritage. Options include soulful Villa-Lobos compositions, rhythmic Brazilian-inspired works, or pieces by other artists inspired by South-American musical traditions.
Practice and Share:
- Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Aim for daily practice and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This keeps you motivated and allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
- Commit to regular practice and share your progress with the community. Aim for daily practice and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your musical voyage. This keeps you motivated and allows you to share your artistic journey with our tonebase family.
Submit Your Performance:
- 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.
- 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.
The heart of this challenge lies in exploring the rich cultural heritage of Villa-Lobos and his musical influences. So, pick a piece that intrigues you and embrace this journey with enthusiasm and curiosity. Together, let's celebrate the captivating sounds of Villa-Lobos and his Brazilian roots. Get ready to practice, learn, and immerse yourself in the Villa-Lobos Voyage Challenge! 
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Gavotta-Choro (Aug 6)
I am finding this piece significantly more difficult than the Mazurka. Here are videos of each of the three sections, which I will eventually put together into the rondo form of the piece (ABACA). Each section is quite challenging, but the C section has some particularly awkward chords. I consider the last eight measures of the C section to be the high point of the entire piece.
BTW, Raul and I are feeling a bit lonely in here. Anyone else going to join in?
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@Eric Phillips It's beautiful! By repeating the sections I could listen to the whole piece! - the melody really shines through and I love the phrasing. I do hope to join in but I'm so busy watching your videos I don't have too much practice time
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Eric Phillips you're such a polished and accomplished guitarist, Eric. I, and I'm sure, many from this community look up to you. Everything you play sounds so great.
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Mazurka-Choro and Gavotta-Choro (Aug 7)
I have continued to work on the Mazurka. I have it memorized, finally, and I feel like I am starting to make it my own when I play it.
The Gavotta is lagging behind the Mazurka, but I continue to progress. I discovered a note in the C section that I was playing wrongly (I played it as G, not G#). This is my first time playing the whole piece straight through, and since it is rather long, I definitely had some fatigue toward the end.
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Eric Phillips Mazurka is sounding very nice, and it does feel like you are making it your own. The Gavotta, which I agree is more difficult, is also coming along. Great work!
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While I am not currently working on any HVL's compositions, I am a huge fan and am enjoying all the postings thus far. Since this Challenge is also on composers who were influenced by HVL, I would like to share this month the progress that I am making on Abel Carlevaro's sonata, Cronomias. As I have mentioned previously, Abel Carlevaro studied directly with Villa-Lobos and was greatly influenced by him. Cronomias is one of Carlevaro's most innovate solo guitar compositions and is written in three movements. I have previously posted the first movement in another Challenge and the second movement in the Carlevaro Discussion Forum. For the current Challenge I will be posting the third and final movement over the next few weeks. In meantime, I thought it might be useful to re-post the first two movements so you can all see what comes before the Finale.
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Dale Needles wow that was amazing. It really is such an innovative piece. The percussive effect and the dissonant voices in the piece and how you execute them is so great.
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks, Nijwm. This week I will begin posting the Finale which is the third movement of Cronomias. I have wanted for sometime to study Cronomias in its entirety and now I feel that I can reach this goal with this challenge.
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Dale Needles These are both great, Dale. your ability to incorporate 'extra musical technique' in a way that is seamless and musical is really impressive. Great job.
Sorry about the slow response, I was out for a while with Covid and then Nu has been in San Jose taking care of her dad, which left me with both dogs. We are all well now and getting back to our routine - whatever that ids.
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Jack Stewart Thanks. Glad you are feeling better and getting back to normal. Let's get together sometime soon.
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Having studied directly with HVL, Abel Carlevaro was very knowledgeable about HVL's music and owned several original manuscripts of HVL's guitar compositions which HVL gave to him. He also regularly gave lectures on HVL as part of his international master classes. I am attaching a copy of a poster that was used for Carlevaro's HVL lecture in San Francisco in 1982 along with a letter from Arminda Neves d'Almeida Villa-Lobos. Arminda Villa-Lobos was HVL longtime partner from 1936 to 1959 and was the first director of the HVL Museum in Rio. She died in 1985.
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At last - I've got around to making a couple of videos. These are pieces I have played in the past and I'm now re-learning for the challenge. Both of the videos that I recorded this morning were done in one take without a warm-up so they include a lot of mistakes but hopefully through this week I'll be able to improve on them.
The first one is Prelude 1
I'm enjoying the other videos which have been posted.
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Derek Welcome to the Villa-Lobos & Friends Challenge. We have a small group thus far so great you can join in. Nice beginning on these two beautiful HVL compositions. Definitely check out Eric Phillips rendition of the Mazurka. It is quite masterful. As for Prelude 1, I find the big challenge for this piece is playing those bass glissandos with as little left hand string noise as possible. I find focusing on the left arm movement helps as does trying to angle the finger ever so slightly to the left. I have not checked out the lesson that Martin posted but maybe there are some good suggestions there.
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Dale Needles Hi Dale. Thank you for commenting on these videos, any suggestions for improvement are always welcome and gratefully received. I have already seen Eric's video and I agree with you - he plays it very well already. I've had a try of your suggestions for the glissandos and I'll keep experimenting with them. Best wishes Derek
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Derek welcome to the challenge Derek. Prelude no.1 is one of my favourite pieces. I've tried to play it myself, not very well, I have to say.
You've started well. Looking forward to your next submission. I suggest you scour the TB lessons, livestreams, masterclasses on this pieces. There's a wealth of great tips and ideas on this piece.
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Derek Great start on this Prelude, Derek. TB has a new lessomn on all of VL
preludes by Douglas Lora. I have watched his video on Prelude #3 which was very good.
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack. Not had chance to watch the lessons yet but I will do soon.
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Today's second video is the Mazurka Choro - just a shame about the ending - it wasn't too bad up until then :-)
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Derek It's wonderful to hear you play again, Derek, and it does not get any better than these two pieces by Villa-Lobos!
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Derek Great job, Derek.
Endings are killers! You get all the way thru a piece and then ...Wham! That's when film editing skills really seem attractive.
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack. You're right - endings can be killers - but there again so can beginnings and the in between :-)
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HVL is one of my favorite composers and Prelude No.1 a favorite piece. I have not played it for quite a while , here is rough recording, many mistakes, planning to polish it during this challenge .
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Calin Lupa Hi Calin. I'm glad to see that you are also returning to this piece. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress throughout the rest of the challenge!
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Derek thank you for your comments. Looking forward to seeing your progress as well on playing these enjoyable but challenging pieces.
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Calin Lupa Good start at relearning this classic Preludio. Looking forward to seeing your progress. As mentioned to Derek, be careful with the left hand string squeaks.
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