Napoléon Coste Lesson 24
In this lesson we’ll look at Lesson 24 by Napoléon Coste. This piece comes from Coste’s revised edition of Sor’s Method and has a beautiful melody in D minor. Here we’ll focus on expression by looking at fingerings, dynamics, rubato, articulation, and tempo.
Tempo
The piece is marked Andante, which is around a walking pace. We should point out, however, that every piece of music has a range of tempos. I like this particular piece at a slower andante pace. This allows a much broader range of expression than a faster, dance-like tempo.
Tempo choice is up to you as a musician and your choice will affect the whole piece.
Feel
The slow tempo gives a melancholic feel to the piece. To make sure you capture the feel of the piece correctly, make sure to pay attention to the anacrusis at the beginning. An anacrusis is a pickup or off-beat note.
Another important component of the feel is the harmonic motion. The harmony moves from D minor to G minor and back to D minor. Thus, we move from a state of relaxation to tension and back to relaxation. Giving appropriate stress and release to this motion will help you bring out the feel.
Finally, bass stopping at rests offers a nice punctuation in the bass line that adds to the melancholic feel of the music. Yes, this brings a greater challenge, but it’s worth it musically.
Vocal lines
There are many longer lines that have an almost vocal quality. We can maximize the vocal element by use of portamentos, slurs, and stopping additional notes from sounding. Likewise we can use vibrato to imitate the voice and there are many opportunities to add vibrato.
Articulation
Following some of these lyrical lines, we can add articulation to create contrast. We can do this by making the chords at the end of measure 3 staccato.
Rubato
Tempo rubato, or stolen time, allows us to add to and take away energy from the music. In some places we can speed up in a subtle way. Following on from that we can take away energy by slowing down. The way I like to think of this is being elastic with time. You might think of it like a rollercoaster going up a hill and then rushing down the hill it’s just climbed.
Dynamics
Finally, when we combine tempo rubato with the use dynamics, crescendi and decrescendi, we add drama to the effect of elasticity.
Enjoyed this lesson and have always loved this piece. There are some errors in the TAB version. 9th measure the 8th treble “C” note should be played on the 3rd string and in the 12th measure the 6th treble note “F” should be played on the 2nd string. Even though I often prefer standard notation I think the TAB version should be accurate.
Love your attention to the finer details of playing this piece and your style of presentation.
Hi John,
Thank you very much for pointing these typos out. I have corrected them.
Kind regards,
Simon
I’ve recently discovered Coste and am currently getting his “Agitato” Op. 38 No. 7 under my fingers. Thank you for this beautiful piece which I downloaded and will put on my list of “things to learn next!” I love your interpretation. Thank you for sharing.
Very plaintive and beautiful! What a fine guitarist this is, he plays the piece with so much tenderness.
What a great selection and accompanying lesson! So glad I took a peek at my email invite! You’re lessons are always well worth the time spent watching them and always provide incredible insights! Many thanks.
Thank you
Great guitar lesson,it’s inspiring for me..Thank you for your spirit of sharing. GOD bless you..
Thank you as always, Simon! I recently came back to this piece in a method book with one of my guitar profs, and he questioned why I was playing So / G on the 4th string via a 4-finger bar in the 3rd and 7th measures rather than simply doing a 2-finger bar and playing the So / G on the open 3rd string – I hadn’t even questioned this until then as I’d simply learned this piece from your fine lesson here. Can I ask why you choose to play on the 4th string rather than the open 3rd string? Is it for consistency of tone in the bass, playing on the same 4th string that’s been used for the Re / D earlier, whereas if switching to the higher tension 3rd string sounds comparatively sharper/more brittle?
Hi George,
Yep, you got it: consistency of sound. Keeping a melody on the same string can often really make for a consistent sounding melody that is convincingly one voice. Because the third string and fourth string sound so different from one another on most guitars, switching can disrupt that continuity and make it sound almost like an accent or at the very least a disruption in the consistency of the voicing. It’s still possible to play it on the third string and achieve something similar of course, but does require some work to get the same kind of consistency.
Peace,
Dave B (CGC team)
A great – thank you, Dave!