Lagrima
Francisco Tárrega
Playing Tips for Learners
Lagrima, by Francisco Tarrega is a prelude. It's not a beginners' piece but is usually considered to be around grade 4 level in accordance with examining boards such as The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) - so it's about halfway between beginner and intermediate level. Its main challenge is the unfamiliar chord fingering in the higher regions of the fretboard.
Form
It consists of two 8-bar sections (A & B), each of which is immediately repeated. On reaching the last bar, after having repeated the B section, the DC al Fine sign comes into effect. It means go back to the start and play again until you reach the 'fine' sign which signals the end of the piece. The sections are played as A A B B A. This is called ternary form.
Key
Section A is in the key of E major, so it uses a four-sharp key signature. All F, C, G and D notes are automatically played as sharps.
Section B is in the parallel minor key of E minor, so it has a one-sharp key signature. All F notes are automatically sharped, but as is usual with music in minor keys, the 7th scale note, D, is raised to D#, throughout and is indicated as an accidental in the music rather than in the key signature.
LISTEN to Lagrima
Click PLAY in the video player below to hear a software-generated 'MIDI to audio' rendition of Lagrima along with the score displayed line by line. As it's a machine-generated audio track, some effects such as phrasing, as well as hammer-ons and slides that are shown in the score can't be reproduced well in the audio. That needs a human touch - yours.
Lagrima, by Francisco Tarrega is a prelude. It's not a beginners' piece but is usually considered to be around grade 4 level in accordance with examining boards such as The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) - so it's about halfway between beginner and intermediate level. Its main challenge is the unfamiliar chord fingering in the higher regions of the fretboard.
Form
It consists of two 8-bar sections (A & B), each of which is immediately repeated. On reaching the last bar, after having repeated the B section, the DC al Fine sign comes into effect. It means go back to the start and play again until you reach the 'fine' sign which signals the end of the piece. The sections are played as A A B B A. This is called ternary form.
Key
Section A is in the key of E major, so it uses a four-sharp key signature. All F, C, G and D notes are automatically played as sharps.
Section B is in the parallel minor key of E minor, so it has a one-sharp key signature. All F notes are automatically sharped, but as is usual with music in minor keys, the 7th scale note, D, is raised to D#, throughout and is indicated as an accidental in the music rather than in the key signature.
LISTEN to Lagrima
Click PLAY in the video player below to hear a software-generated 'MIDI to audio' rendition of Lagrima along with the score displayed line by line. As it's a machine-generated audio track, some effects such as phrasing, as well as hammer-ons and slides that are shown in the score can't be reproduced well in the audio. That needs a human touch - yours.
Download Lagrima as a PDF file for offline viewing and printing.
tarrega_-_lagrima.pdf |