 |
CHESTER GUITAR CIRCLE |
Chester Guitar Circle Workshop 2008 |
| Home | Recent Meetings | Music | Workshop | Links | Contact Us |
|
CHESTER GUITAR CIRCLE |
Chester Guitar Circle Workshop 2008 |
| Home | Recent Meetings | Music | Workshop | Links | Contact Us |
| Nicole N. | F. Tarrega: Recuerdos de la Alhambra |
| John G./Alex K. | M. Houghton: Spring Fair |
| Ian R. | Torroba: Sonatina, 3rd movement |
| Interval | |
|---|---|
| Helen B. | F. Tarrega: Marieta |
| Chris B./Steve G. | Lennon & McCartney: The Fool on the Hill |
| Chris B. | G. Crespo: Nortena |
| Reserves | |
| Steve G. | Lennox Berkeley, no. 1 of Quatre Pieces |
| Bernard G. | J. Turina: Soleares |
Recuerdos de la Alhambra utilises the guitar technique called 'tremolo', where a bass note (played with the thumb) is followed by three rapidly repeating melody notes (played with the fingers). It is one of the most famous pieces written for classical guitar. Tarrega uses a simple ABA musical form - an A minor section followed by and A major section with a repeat of the A minor to finish.
Spring Fair is the third from a set of six pieces entitled Impressions Opus 41 written for two guitars. Each piece in the set is a homage to a composer and Spring Fair is a homage to the Australian composer Percy Grainger.
Federico Moreno-Torroba (b. 1891 - d. 1982) was a Spanish composer, conductor and critic. He established a reputation as a composer of the Zarzuela - nationalistic flavoured art-folk music set to theatre. Torroba can also be credited with being the first composer to respond to the request of Andres Segovia to write new compositions for the developing concert guitar.
In 1924 he wrote his first work for Segovia; Sonatina in A. The finale 3rd movement is marked Allegro and is in 3/8 time and standard guitar tuning (where the 2nd movement requires a D scordatura). It is perhaps one of the most lyrical pieces ever written for the guitar. Unlike the outer two movements of the Sonatina which are in A major and played in standard guitar tuning the slow movement, in D major, requires a retuning of the 6th string to D, thus temporarily interrupting the performance of the work as a whole unit. For this reason the slow movement often suits performance on its own.
Francisco Tarrega (1852 - 1909), concert guitarist, prolific composer arranger and pedagogue for guitar, is one of the founders of modern guitar technique pre-dating Segovia.
Marieta is written in the style of the Polish 'Mazur' or Mazurka, showing the strong influence that Frederic Chopin had on his compositional style. It has two sections. The first marked Lento (in A minor) and the second Piu Mosso (in A major for contrast). This is followed by a repeat of the first section. This piece exhibits a number of the Chopinesque traits of Tarrega's writing such as ornamentation and guitar techniques such as string slides.
Written in 1967 by Paul McCartney about a person that everyone considers a fool, but who is really a misunderstood visionary. McCartney had in mind a guru such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This arrangement is by the Cuban guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer.
One way of practising tremolo - reduce tremolo to single melody notes to help in formulating a 'musicality plan'. m.5 - first C major chord should be uplifting in character and emphasising the contrasting A minor prior to this. Dynamic continues to rise up to m.9 on F major.
m.11 - E bass - JA likens this to a bell and comments that 'Granada is full of bells'.
A major section should evoke sunlight (more reference to distinguishing 'mentally' between minor and major.
JA commented on Nicole's tendency to balance on the side of left hand index finger. By balancing on 2nd finger and thumb (approximately aligned with 2nd finger) this will have the desired effect of straightening the hands orientation to the fretboard.
JA commented on how important it is to relax the right hand. 'Make conscious demands on the right hand to achieve actions'.
Last A major chord - do not spread the chord (ie arpeggiate or broken). Do not play the chord flat but add a hint of vibrato.
Introduction to piece: Add coarseness to guitar 2 - Alex (do not make it overly 'pretty'). Leggiero means 'lightly'. Slightly accent the G bass and make the chord duplets rise dynamically as if leading somewhere.
In John's part: observe staccato dots and finger melody accordingly. Add accents on m.4 E/G staccato notes. Finger E on B string.
Make conscious decision to dynamically affect 'espressivo' section so that it contrasts earlier lead up to it.
m.15 John's part: remove finger pressure from 'F' to maintain a 'melodic' line as opposed to a 'harmonic' line.
Do not interpret 'mf' at start too heavily.
JA discussed weight versus lightness (referring to the overall approach to the formal plan of the piece). Further reading: Sonata Forms: Charles Rosen
m.4 define chords - balance within chords - consider shortening them.
m.9 JA comments on beauty of Bm7 chord - don't change character of the phrase subtlety.
Explore the sound of chords.
m.17 Focus on bass phrase and problematic string-change in middle of phrase. Suggest using right hand thumb. Don't play the phrase 'flat' (?) - use small amount of vibrato.
m.26 technically difficult (not as idiomatic to the guitar) - make a decision over dynamics at this point (piano).
m.33 - Don't spread A7th chord.
m.50 - Observe dynamic hairpin.
Close to the end of the piece: Harmonic omitted from 3-note harmonic group.
JA addressed some points concerning the characterisation of the Mazurka as a dance form, pointing out the evolution of the 'instrumental mazurka' as diverting and evolving in the hands of Frederic Chopin (who wrote 51 such works spanning his whole compositional life - it is his most personal and revealing nationalistic opus). JA points toward 'ritenuto' as providing moments where the music is meant to be held (ie Rubato for which Chopin is renowned).
mm. 8-9 interpret similar to Allargando.
Pitch errors in ornamentation and general play (actually more than JA spotted so attention to detail when reading). Eg last note in m.6 should be C sharp so observe accidentals and their measure durations.
Anacrusis at start: ornamental c should be 'carried to the E (definition of portamento) and not 'Glissando' (to fret to the E).
Second section (A major) observe 'piu mosso' as slightly more motion and define this section better (taken to mean: review fingerings to ascertain better clarity of melodic and harmonic definition).
Learn to listen to the music being output form the guitar and its impact on the music shape.
JA commented on a good tempo choice for the piece. Space to relax is needed in the piece (ie variety of timbre/dynamics for the different sections. JA comments on how busy the score is throughout and so some plan is needed to introduce these moments of relaxation.
m.5 Drop the dynamic in gtr 2 below that of melody in gtr 1.
mm.20-21 key change to G minor - draw the audience in - gtr 2 try and hold onto the A note and hold up the progress fractionally (ie rubato).
mm.25-27 gtr1 shorten crotchet meter (quavers).
m.31 gtr 2 should punctuate more decisively.
Original melody needs deciphering amongst added harmonies.
Establish a 'click track backing' (ie metronome).
Try playing the melody notes of the opening phrase alone.
Major thirds intervals carry more energy than minor thirds.
Explore the chords (eg G major in m.5).
m.13 E minor 9th chord - an example of a 'scrunchy' chord.
m.30 bring out the inner bass line.
Harmonics sound from the left hand - minimise left hand movement.
Give the music space - listen to chords, dissect and experiment.
Don't play 'dead notes' use some element of vibrato.