10 Brazilian Choros Arranged For Classical Guitar Solo

Choro is a popular instrumental-music tradition flourishing in Brazil and around the world. It preceded, influenced, and in turn was influenced by samba and bossa nova. Its repertory is vast, including thousands of choros composed by all manner of string, wind, keyboard, and percussion players—in addition to the guitar classics by João Pernambuco and Heitor Villa-Lobos. This landmark publication gives guitarists access to this seemingly endless repertory, empowering its readers to turn a choro written for any instrument into a convincing and idiomatic solo guitar arrangement. This process is taught through examples provided by Dr. Stephen Guerra, a versatile guitarist/composer intimately familiar with both classical and Brazilian guitar (violão brasileiro) as well as the choro idiom. This book is intended for both students of Brazilian guitar and classical guitarists seeking to add choros to their repertory and play them authentically. It includes: • Original solo arrangements plus lead sheets and online recordings of 10 choros for the intermediate to advanced classic guitarist. • Biographical and performance notes regarding the selected composers and compositions. • Insightful suggestions for further reading, listening, and study. • Extensive endnotes explaining arrangement choices, notation practice and influences. Dr. Guerra focuses on classics from the pioneering generation of choro composers culminating in the artistry of João Pernambuco, Pixinguinha, and Heitor Villa-Lobos; among others, these include compositions by choro pianists Chiquinha Gonzaga and Ernesto Nazareth, samba singer-composer Noel Rosa, choro bandleaders Joaquim Calado and Anacleto de Medeiros, and Brazil’s early flute virtuoso, Patápio Silva. Includes access to online audio.

As one can easily imagine, it would be very hard for a guitar student to start reading the scores of the traditional choro repertoire, most of them with large number of technical difficulties. It would be much better if they could start with some easier pieces – of intermediate level – in order to be presented to the choro language in a more gradual and appropriate manner. That is the main goal of this book. It has 13 studies (in the 13 more commonly used keys for the choro guitar) written in a reduced form and in the principal stylistic choro variants: besides real choros, there are polkas, maxixes, Brazilian tangos and xotis. the more used and characteristic rhythmical figurations are present in each of the studies as the principal. Also aiming at the simplification of execution, all studies were composed with only two voices (melody and bass) and with no chords (although harmonies are quite evident due to the choro melodic particularities). A CD with all 13 studies is included.

At last! Here are Paolo Bellinati's long-awaited solo guitar arrangements of 10 of the 12 compositions featured on the Mel Bay Publications DVD, Paulo Bellinati Plays Antonio Carlos Jobim (99725DVD). Written in standard notation only with brief performance notes for each piece, these arrangements would best be approached by the intermediate to advanced classic guitarist.In this collection, masterful Brazilian guitarist Paolo Bellinati has meticulously transcribed his solo guitar arrangements of ten melodies by his beloved countryman and pioneering bossa nova composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Bellinati particularly labored over his arrangements of Jobim's instrumental compositions, i.e., songs without lyrics as these "reveal a much more sophisticated Jobim, closer to his favorite classical composers..."The book also contains arrangements of lyrical songs "of a more introspective and romantic character," including "Luiza" which Bellinati regards as "the most beautiful and perfect Brazilian song ever written.The book also includes substantial biographies of both the author/arranger and the composer, plus a notation key illuminating the special techniques needed to effectively render these arrangements- all lending additional insight to the music itself.

Recording the Classical Guitar charts the evolution of classical guitar recording practice from the early twentieth century to the present day, encompassing the careers of many of the instrument’s most influential practitioners from acoustic era to the advent of the CD. A key focus is on the ways in which guitarists’ recorded repertoire programmes have shaped the identity of the instrument, particularly where national allegiances and musical aesthetics are concerned. The book also considers the ways in which changing approaches to recording practice have conditioned guitarists’ conceptions of the instrument’s ideal representation in recorded form and situates these in relation to the development of classical music recording aesthetics more generally. An important addition to the growing body of literature in the field of phonomusicology, the book will be of interest to guitarists and producers as well as students of record production and historians of classical music recording.

A new collection by Argentine guitar virtuoso and composer Jorge Morel. This collection features solos by three renowned Latin composers plus two original solo guitar compositions by the author/compiler. All works are in the tango/milonga dance form and are presented in notation and tablature. Selections include: Don Agustin Bardi, by Horacio Salgan; Gallo Ciego, by Agustin Bardi; El Choclo, by Angel Villoldo; and Milonga del Viento and Otro Tango; Buenos Aires, by Jorge Morel. A companion CD featuring Mr. Morel's performance of each solo is included.

England's John Zaradin is a gifted performer both in jazz and in the field of classic guitar. He is especially knowledgeable in the wide and diverse world of Latin American guitar solo and rhythm styles. This book contains six solos based on the Rumba Rhythm (Mosaico de Rumbas) and six solos in the Bossa-Samba mode (Ambientes Brasileiras). Each solo is scored in both notation and tablature and reflects the vitality, rhythm, and improvisatory nature of this idiom.