Student Projects

The idea behind our Student Projects is to educate young classical guitarists living in the Greater Vancouver Area, to prepare them to perform chamber music, and to give them a taste of the joy of playing in an ensemble. For each project, participating students are tasked with recording themselves performing a select composition. The recordings will compiled to create a sort of virtual ensemble, and the resulting video will be posted on the Vancouver Guitar Orchestra website and on the VGO YouTube channel and Facebook page. In the future, we hope to organize a physical concert in which participating students perform these compositions together for a live audience.

You can participate in our student project by following the steps below.

Lets Start

Dances from “Terpsichore”

Terpsichore is a compendium of more than 300 instrumental dances published in 1612 by the German composer Michael Praetorius (1571- 1621). The collection takes its name from Greek Muse of dance. The collection is based on French dance repertoire of the time, although some of the tunes have been identified as coming from other parts of Europe, for instance, England and Spain. Michael Praetorius was one of the most important composers and theorists of the late Renaissance and early -17th century. His astonishing encyclopedia of music gives us an intriguing glimpse into the instruments and performance practices of the time, and his writing covers all aspects of music.

Step 1

Choose one part of “Bransle de la Royne” and “Ballet” by Michael Praetorius and download pdfs of the score.

Bransle & Ballet scales

Bransle de la Royne:

Download Guitar 1 - level 3 Beginner

Download Guitar 2 - level 1 Beginner

Download Guitar 3 - level 1 Beginner

Download Guitar 4 - level 2 Beginner

Download full score of Bransle de la Royne

Ballet:

Download Guitar 1 - level 5 Intermediate

Download Guitar 2 - level 4 Intermediate

Download Guitar 3 - level 3 Beginner

Download Guitar 4 - level 3 Beginner

Download full score of Ballet

Step 2

Listen or download recording tracks and watch the tutorial how to make the home recording for VGO

Bransle de la Royne:

Listen to the recording track

Download recording mp3 file

Ballet:

Listen to the recording track

Download recording mp3 file

Step 3

Watch the tutorial and practice alone with metronome or recording tracks

Step 4

1. Prepare a quiet place with a bright neutral background.
2. Use a footstole or guitar support to keep a correct posture.
3. Remember to tune your guitar before recordings on A= 440 Hz .
You can download Tunning and Metronome Apps for free from the Internet.
4. Make sure that video will be recorded horizontally, and that your face, both hands and guitar are visible.
5. Record with the metronome or with the Mp3 recording track so we can all stay together. Put one earphone in your ear and remember that the sound of the metronome or Mp3 recording track mustn’t be heard on a final recording.
6. You can record on a mobile device or a camera.
7. If you choose to record with any other external microphone or other audio recording device, remember to synchronize the audio with your video before sending the final video file.
8. Make a couple of recordings, listen to them carefully and choose the one that you are most happy with.
9.Upload your best final video and send it before September 5th

Final Step:

Dear Parents,
Please sign the agreement that allow us to use a video recording of your child, along with her/his name, in this virtual project which will be published on VGO’s YouTube channel in October 2021.

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