mangore.comRenato Bellucci logo
 "Denial, is not just a river in Egypt"


Search WWW Search mangore.com


Baden Powell
Great classics Masterclasses
Guitar Technique
Guitar audio and video
Music theory
Great articles and career
First steps to classical guitar mastery
Brazilian Portrait: Baden Powell
Baden Powell
Baden Powell 

Brazilian music inspires the most beautiful and expressive feelings from a composer's heart. Such is the case with this gorgeous Choro by the Brasilian guitarist Baden Powell. Powell definitely made his guitar sing and he added to both Bossa Nova and Brazilian music in general, a unique flavor, one that most guitar players can only attain to achieve. He died in 2001 in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 63... booze and tobacco  shortened this talented musician's life..... 

His last concert was only days before his death in  Belo Horizonte. 

Baden Powell was born on August 6, 1937, in Varre-Sai, a little town in 220 miles from Rio de Janeiro. His father, a shoemaker, boy scout leader and tuba player in his free time, named the son after Sir Baden-Powell, the British soldier who in 1908 founded de Boy Scouts. 

He started to play  jazz in Rio's nightclubs. He would soon meet and become friends with such bossa nova icons as Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. His first hit came in 1956 with "Samba Triste".

Brasilian portrait is a jewel of Universal proportions. A special appoggiato effect is used in the right hand to bring out the amazing depth of the melody.....

I will post the piece as it was recorded by Baden Powell in his 1980 recording Nosso Baden. A complete staff is missing from all the scores I found.  I recently picked the staff by ear from Powell's LP...
 

Retrato Brasilero
-MEMBERS-Download Brasilian Portrait VIDEO

Retrato Brasilero
Baden Powell, Punta del Este, Uruguay  3.00 MB
Hear me play Brazilian Portrait: CD "Chaconne"  stream

Retrato Brasilero,  # 1

The main melody and the accompaniment walk on two different rails at different heights. Use your RH palette of color and tone to achieve the depth required by the piece. You can choose to tie the notes as shown on the staff or play them normally...expression rules.
 
Video 1
Retrato Brasilero video #1
To see, click on the image
To download, right click here
Analysis:
Lever/pivotFinger 3 works as a pivot and  a lever. It stays in its place, stopping the A while the right hand rotates around it to present the D# in measure 2.
Special AppoggiatoThis is the mechanics involved in the production of this special appoggiato. As you can see, the whole hand is involved in the production of the sound. 1- The a finger feels the string 2- The a finger stiffens (fijacion) as the RH comes up and to the left 3- the a finger rests on string 2. This is a special effect and I will indicate it with an inverted V.
.
The animations freeze if you click on the streaming video image. When this happens, choose "show picture" from the mouse right buttom menu.

Asuncion, Wednesday June 9th 2004

The continuation of the masterclass is in the members area

Click to see the membership privileges

Page 1

Home | Biography |e-m@ilGuestbook | Visitors Comments
DVDCDs, DVD & VHS | Renew

Renato Bellucci logo

mangore.com is Copyright ©, all rights reserved 1997-2005
Copyright and terms of use