Weekly Update 3

Hi, Welcome to my project. For my whole project, I would like to record several different types of classes, such as individual class, group class, and master class. After recording, I will summaries the note about what did the teacher say in this class and what I can learn from this class. This is Weekly Update 3.

Last week I said I will observe the guitar group class this week, however, due to the time conflict, I cannot observe class this week. So, I will give you guys my studio class this week and will try to find time to get the guitar group class.

In each studio class, a student majoring in guitar would come to play, and then the professor would give suggestions based on his/her performance. In addition, other students who are watching class could also express their own opinions. The student who played this week is called grace, and she is a junior student in guitar major. She played Variations on a theme by Sor written by Miguel Llobet. The composer was born on October 18th, 1878 in Barcelona, Spain, where he spent his early years playing violin and piano. After receiving a guitar as a present, he was inspired to learn how to play after seeing a concert by Antonio Jiménez Manjón in 1889. At this time, he was 11 years old, and his first teacher was Magí Alegre. A few years later, Miguel Llobet met Francisco Tarrega and studied with him at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Barcelona. This piece is a favorite for centuries among European composers, the ancient theme of the folia inspired a number of works, including Fernando Sor's Variations. Op. 15. Borrowing from this theme and the first two variations, Llobet adds eight more variations and a romantic Intermezzo that display ingenuity in modern harmonic technique with devices exploiting several technical aspects of the guitar, including left-hand only variation, harmonics, and quick slurs.

After she played, the professor said her vibrato is really good, which is a skill I should improve. Professor gave us some ways to practice the vibrato such as relax your arm and use the arm power to make the finger move instead of just use the finger. In the first variation, the professor said she needs to play chord not that loud to make the melody connected. If she plays chord as ff and plays slur as p, it will make a big gap between two melodies. In the third variation, the professor said she should practice slurs more and practice slowly to make sure every note is clear. Because class time is limited, he just talked about a few important notes. I put a recording of a performer I really like if you are interested in, I am pretty sure you will love it!

Here is the score of this piece: Variations on a theme by Sor.

Next week is the Spring break, no weekly update. The week after next week, I will continue to connect with teacher of guitar group class and observe class, then I will update the note of class, keep following me to know more information.

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