My 60 day journey to recuerdos

Having not played Recuerdos for quite some time, I thought I'd take my guide book and work my way through it again in order to share my experience with others who are trying to learn the piece. I hope to spend about 20 minutes a day on the piece and see where that takes me.

I began with the tremolo drills listed on page 7 of our guidebook as I believe I still have a pretty good working knowledge of our left hand fingerings. As we suggest, I begin practicing the tremolo pattern (p-a-m-i) on one string using the metronome to click on every attack. I chose 120 bpm which turned out to be comfortable for me. I focused on trying to make each note sound the same, keeping my right hand relaxed, my right arm and shoulder relaxed, and watching/listening to my right hand. It's easy to drift off and stop paying attention. But I think it's important to focus by watching and listening to what you are doing. This is easier to do if you aren't using the left hand. My tip joints stayed loose and flexible throughout. Shoulder got a little tight as did arm. It's amazing how much tension we can bring to the tremolo. Perhaps I stopped breathing. Remember to breathe next time.

I took the pattern to each string at the same tempo. Some think that you have to change your hand position or wrist angle when you move from the first string to others but I believe you should maintain that same hand position/wrist angle.

From there I practiced a-m-i on the first string while moving the thumb from string to string. I did notice that as my thumb went to the 5th and 6th string some difficulty as the thumb does have to travel much farther. Still at 120 bpm, using the metronome to click on every attack.

I performed the same as above but with a-m-i on 2nd string and then on 3rd string.

I then tried the patterns, we suggest on bottom of page 7 of guidebook. I kept the metronome at 120 bpm and coordinated with an attack on the p and m fingers.

So far so good. Got to remember to breathe more next time.

Time spent 20 minutes.

Things to consider before starting Recuerdos

Difficulty of the piece

This piece is recommended for the advanced intermediate student. It requires a knowledge of the entire fingerboard, careful planning of left-hand movement, and fluency with the specialized right-hand technique known as tremolo. In addition, successful performance of this piece demands a high level of endurance and concentration.

Road Map to the Piece

The piece is divided into three broad sections. The first section, in the key of A minor ends at measure 20. There is a key change to A major in measure 21, and a coda which appears in for the third occurrence of measure 36. The first two sections are each repeated, then there is a “D.C. al Coda,” which instructs the performer to return to the beginning, playing through measure 35 (without taking the sectional repeats), then going to the coda. The entirety of the piece is presented using the tremolo. Tremolo is a right hand technique which features a rapid a-m-i repetition of the melody notes. Over extended passages, a well-executed tremolo gives the impression of sustained notes, and gives the guitarist dynamic control through a single pitch, in imitation of singing. Receurdos is in 3/4 time and should be performed at a tempo sufficiently fast enough to complete the illusion of melody and accompaniment. I suggest a tempo of around 80 beats per minute for the quarter note.