Three Fingering Tips for Villa-Lobos’s Etude Nº2

If you all were inspired (or recovered) from watching Ekachai Jearakul whip off Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Etude Nº2, you may find this post helpful. While I was a student at the New England Conservatory, the second half of one of my degree recitals was simply Villa-Lobos’ Twelve Etudes. While some of the etudes are manageable, others require relentless and careful practice, and they all have moments that can fill endless practice hours with frustration. To add to the matter, I was studying with the great Eliot Fisk, and despite all of his valuable advice and help, watching him display what was possible on a regular basis conjured both extreme inspiration and a sense of hopelessness at achieving such a level of comfort with these pieces.  Undoubtedly, in the year leading up to that recital, I found myself amidst a metaphorical Amazonian finger maze and developed my own survival strategy.

For those working on this particular etude, there are a few spots where I found less obvious fingerings more helpful. These solutions are personal, but if the spots have been frustrating for any of you, give the following solutions a try.

Measure 3 (repeats not counted)

To increase the resonance, I like having the 3rd and 2nd strings open on this one, so I shift to 5th position to enable this. There are a few alternate right-hand fingerings to explore, but I prefer the 1st.

villa-lobos-2-alt-fingerings

Measures 10-12

In this solution, guide fingers are highlighted in red. While the right-hand solution is personal, I like switching to rest-stroke on the highest note of the run. If you prefer to play free-stroke, you might choose to switch to 1st position by playing the first note of measure 12 on the 1st string open and using that to shift. The second finger would still work as a great guide in this situation. villa lobos 2 alt fingerings 2.jpg

Measures 21-22

In this example, ending the repeat with a slight alteration makes a noticeable difference in playing measure 22. Again, I’ve included some alternate right-hand fingerings for exploration, but I prefer the 1st.

villa lobos 2 alt fingerings 3.jpg

Hope this helps!

Villa-Lobos Etude Nº1 Part 1

I love getting to the point when a student is ready to tackle Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Etude Nº1. There are so many angles to explore and it takes a lot of dedication to master them. At one point during my preparation to perform all 12 etudes, I determined that the most effective use of my warm-up time was to dedicate at least 30 minutes to Etude Nº1, 30 minutes to Etude Nº2, and 30 minutes to Etude Nº3. Following this, I noticed that my hands consistently performed well when I worked on other material.

Over the course of months, I may have played those etudes at least a thousand times, in many, many different ways. I tried everything I could think of to improve them.

The first step in this wonderful journey is to develop the right hand’s ability to play the entire arpeggio comfortably.  The great Andrés Segovia suggested a solution that is still used by the majority of students and the one I used for years. However, as we develop our abilities, we find that our hands have an easier time with certain movements, and we find ways to use those movements to harness our strengths.

So, I always suggest putting in your time with Segovia’s solution until you can perform the Etude with that pattern. I find that the weakest part of the solution is moving from to a, making the 3rd quarter note beat (half note of the measure) sound articulate, which helps to delineate the rhythmic structure of the Etude, so I have come to prefer substituting with i. However, it wasn’t until working on the piece for many years that I slowly came to prefer it. Explore the possibilities in the practice room by adding in a few alternate fingerings to start the exploratory process. I’ve watched my mentor, Eliot Fisk, play it through in hundreds of ways just as an exercise to develop string crossing—I think I remember him even doing the whole arpeggio with the middle finger and pinky!

Here are some important ways to practice it. Stay tuned for Part 2, and we’ll go deeper.

right hand villa lobos fingering 1