Los Tres Golpes (The Three Knocks) by the Cuban composer Ignacio Cervantes is a movement that explores the habanera pattern. This arrangement for guitar quartet is a great performance pieces enabling guitarists to explore many aspects of their playing particularly regarding tone, the articulation of notes and dynamic range. The realisation has a repeat played which is common when Cervantes music is performed. The tempo of the realisation is 84 bpm. The sheet music scores is also presented with a repeat in place although this is editorial. The music has been transposed from the original key of E minor to A minor. The movement can be played at a variety of tempo. The music editor suggests that it is easier to decide when the movement is being played too slowly rather than too quickly! The choice of tempo is dependent on the instrument combination, the performance context and the acoustic of the recording or performance venue. There is scope to explore tempo rubato in a performance. These miniatures provide excellent playing material for players because they provide so many of the musical elements that feature in Cuban music whether in an art music, folk or popular music context. Cervantes was a composer and musician who assimilated the music elements of his home country in all his work. As he studied music formally in Cuba and in Europe his music is generally presented in a way that lends itself to being arranged in the traditions of the Western music tradition. The contrapuntal element in his music is very strong and whereas formally Cervantes always has clear melodic and harmonic direction musical ideas are presented in a sectional context which are generally repeated. The suggestion is a very quick and inventive mind particularly in his use of the habanera pattern. The melodic line in its original form for piano has a broad range (more than 3 octaves) and for many of the arrangements it is necessary to utilise octave transpositions to enable the most appropriate range of the featured solo instrument to be explored. For those interested in the voicing of the composer’s original score download the piano version which is available as a free score. The original PlentyMusic context for this movement was in the Ragtime and Relations Area of Study in which the focus was exploring syncopated rhythms including the habanera pattern. In 2021, the scores have been reviewed and a number of additional arrangements have been added to the PlentyMusic website. The arrangement would be best played with either 4 nylon strung guitars or 4 steel strung guitars. A mandolin can also be substituted for Acoustic Guitar 1.

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