Anyone else playing this? I've just started learning it. It's is SO gorgeous to play. But I'm finding the music really hard to read. It's written high above the stave, with most of the piece being played right near the end of the fretboard. I find myself getting lost all the time when I'm reading the music - literally losing my place and having to restart. Did anyone else have this problem with it?

I just had a listen to a sample on itunes - that's lovely.

I'm about as far from a competent guitarist as you could find, so I don't know if this helps (or I might be stating the bleeding obvious....) BUT... when playing things up on a million legers on flute or violin, I find it helps not to worry about whether a note is a G or a C or whatever, but to look at it just in relation to the notes around it and play more by interval. There tend to be a few notes that I do instantly recognise, for example the G that is on several legers, and I use them as an anchor for notes that would require a bit more thought to actually put a name to.

I am sure it's rather tougher when you have more than one line to navigate, ( - I'd be hopeless!) and if this is completely obvious then ignore me but I thought it was worth saying just in case!

As a (very inactive) flute player, I second sarah-flute's suggestion. If you want to get hard-core about, it you could run a fine colored marker along the line that represents A or C or something, to anchor your eye a little!

i think it's partly the leger lines, but it's also the repetitive form of the bars - the combination is lethal.

I've never learned the Cathedral, but I had a quick look at it just now. I agree a it's a combination of problems:

- The leger lines ( I like the idea of putting a coloured line through the top E - I'll try that)
- The repetition so that when you glance at the fretboard and back to the music, you've lost your place
- The notes on the G & D strings being higher than the open B string - which my brain doesn't like! (I know it happens quite a lot, but not ususally right through a piece)
- The big lump of the upper bout of the guitar being in the way of the LH, which means you have to turn your little finger on its side - which hurts. Or buy a cutaway guitar
- The fact that it seems to need to be played at goodness knows what speed to make it sound reasonable.

What can I say? Good luck!

I've just found this from Renato Bellucci. It won't help you learn The Cathedral, but it might make you feel smug when you have!

"Mangore's La Catedral is one of the most challenging guitar pieces you will ever play. If you want to include a major work in your repertoire, this is definitely the one piece to have. The challenge does not lie in any of the single sections of the work but in the sum of all the different sections. The left hand is drained of all its energy by the time you reach the mid part of the third movement, right where a major run comes and numbness is all you get if you did not work your way up to it properly."

ah, you know my teacher didn't mention that bit! He just said something like 'this is pretty, I think you'll enjoy it'. Grrr!

The upper string notes being lower than the lower string notes does my head in too btw. It's horribly confusing. I had the same problem on another piece I learned recently - can't remember which though. But it was only an occasional bar, whereas for this, it's about 80% of the time!

There are also some truly evil barred chords, btw. There's one where I literally feel like my hand is in a vice. Evil! Apparently barrios had unusually large hands, and could do all kinds of weird things with his fingers which us lesser mortals just kind of cringe at.

Ho hum.

Have a go at playing it Felix - I'd be interested to see what you make of it. It is really very beautiful. And it looks so much more simple than it really is!

oh btw - it doesn't have to be horribly fast. The recordings I've heard are quite gentle and measured.

Ack, that is not fun. I know it sounds a bit naff, but is it worth numbering or labeling them somehow? So that till you have your head round it, you can keep a count in your head of which bar you're on in any one section? I don't know how useful that would be but it's just a thought...

Yeah, I've played it before. I considered including it in my Dip programme but there's a few too many little niggly problems with it that I dread sorting out.

I know exactly what you mean about evil chords, I have fairly small hands so it's a bit of a nightmare playing it, I have to say.

I struggled with losing my place as well and the only thing that eventually got me round that was memorising it. Which was not the most fun of options!

Oh. *Sigh* I want to go tackle it some more now but I'm told that practise at 1am is considered more than a little unsociable...

Take the Cathedral Challenge?? Maybe I will! Let me have a proper look at the score.

Yeah me too..

shall we get the prelude nice and shiny sounding, and each post it on the recordings site? (Mine would be the one with lots of fumbling noises and a few soft spoken curses)

Is the score available from anywhere online and for free?
Not that I'm tight or anything

I got it from the iceland guitar school site, I think. I definitely downloaded it free. Pretty sure it was from there.

J

I normally look there! Dont believe I didn't look there automatically... Still the pressures been on today because I did my grade 8 exam this afternoon after it was cried of last week.
there's a grainey performance of it on Youtube if you, like me, like to see others perform it first

oh wow, omg, how did the grade 8 go?

Ok. As per normal the anxiety crept in and I felt like taking some very large extended paces in the opposite direction, but once I got going it was alright. I broke the habit of the previous exams and went straight off with the pieces rather than scales and arps. Let's hope it all worked out to the examiners satisfaction.

Thanks for the tip for this lovely piece, I will take the music with me on my holiday

Good luck, onmageetar, sounds like you're quietly confident

Sara

I have admiration for anyone who stays in the room! I'm sure you did well, omg.

Once I'm in the room they lock me in .. It's actually getting me up to and through the door, that's the hard part.. As for confident? It's difficult to tell if examiners are impressed or not. I have had an examiner who was really looking miserable and gave me a distinction. And another who was all laughs and smiles and scraped me a 109 pass..
I know not what awaits
It's not the end of the world if I've failed though. I'll just have another go

my friend sais that some examiners are impatiant with mistakes

Good attitude, I'm not very good at thinking that way!

how're you getting on with this? I've got the prelude more or less under my fingers now, but I reckon it will be a while before I'll be playing it smoothly! I've decided to wait to get this slick before going on to Andante Religioso.

I've also just started playing the villa lobos prelude 3. I'm amazed how much easier it is than number 1. Or maybe it's just because I've broken my fingers in on number 1? lol.

A good performance of it all the way through on Youtube.
The third movement is a bit hard

is that you omg?

Hm. No based on things you've said about yourself, clearly not. (Need to pause before posting!) It's a lovely performance though.

I'm having trouble with the harmonics to chord thing at the end of the prelude.