Guardame Las Vacas

A Brief Diatribe on the Performance of Transcribed Music

Another practical app. discussion actually, but it does highlight the importance/desirability of a decent apoyando technique. Written for the Vihuela de Mano by Luis Narvaez sometime around the formation of the earth, this little piece is another encore staple, often used by Segovia in his later years as an early music selection for his program.

Guardame Las Vacas translates from Spanish to English as "Watch the Cows" and in format is a theme and variations. Once again, this transcription from vihuela tablature to standard notation was photocopied for me by Albert Blain back in the early 1970's. Julio Prol did the transcription (as you can easily see.) I do not know who the publisher was or if this edition is still in print.

Please note Sr. Prol's right hand fingering. I usually start on m and alternate from there as my m is a bit stronger than my a. I apoyando the e in measure one, the d in measure two and the c,b,c,d melody in measure three -- to me, those are the pitches that deserve a stronger accent. I achieve this by using apoyando on these notes and free stroke on the rest. It is a nice subtle accent, not a jarring earthquake. Try the theme this way, using apoyando to accent the notes YOU feel are worthy.