As a new student of guitar, I'll ask advance forgiveness for the quality of the following recording efforts, but I suppose I'll need to be the first to step up to the mic and inaugurate the Music Category.
Connie, one of the HopeScope Family's "Canadian Contingent", is quite a talented songwriter and musician. Proficient in guitar, piano, and a bit of violin, she is also a wonderful lyricist, and has been sharing her verse with us for some time. Now, though, Connie has gone the limit and recorded "Away" for our enjoyment.
This ballad was written and performed, as well as recorded and engineered, by Connie. She'll be getting some guidance from one of our experienced resident musicians to make her recordings even better, and we look forward to hearing more from her!
Okay... the house is quiet and I promised you I'd avail myself of the quiet. So, I thought I'd share a bit of one of the pieces I'm studying.
This piece, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful compositions ever written. I really have no business learning it yet, as it is so diffucult for me that I am only working on the verse as yet - the chorus comes later - and I have had to record it for you in phrases because I can't yet get through it.
The piece is "Preludio de Adios", a slow, beautiful South American ballad or "lament" by Venezuealan composer Alfonso Montes. According to my research, Montes is a modern composer (he is my age!) and was born in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela in 1955. He studied music in Caracas and London, and his work is deeply based in Venezuelan tradition but influenced by his European environment, particularly England and Germany where he has lived for several years. His pieces have been widely recorded by some of the most noted guitarists in the world including John Williams.