Largo is a slow movement from one of Georg Phillip Telemann’s larger multi-movement works. In this version, Guitar 1 gets practice reading in position V. While other fingerings are possible, ask students to first work through the part in fifth position. In m. 14, part one is required to momentarily move out of position to reach a g-sharp on string 3. Ask students to reach for these notes using a small stretch, enabling them to play the f-sharp to g-sharp slur at the end of the measure. After playing this figure, students should immediately return to a more relaxed left hand set up in position V.
New concepts: At this point, students will begin to develop general literacy in using natural notes on all strings. Largo also includes many accidentals. It is a good idea to take a few minutes and reinforce the concept and function of sharps, flats, and natural signs. As always, pay close attention to expressive markings including dynamics, color and tempo changes. There are a few figures in which a dotted eighth note is followed by two slurred thirty-second notes. Many students intuitively play these figures more quickly that necessary. It can be helpful to model the rhythm first using only the last of the two thirty-second notes as though it were a dotted eighth to sixteenth note figure. After hearing that familiar rhythm, it is easy to simply add in the “extra” note without disrupting the steady pulse.
Largo comes to us from Mark Cruz in San Marcos, Texas. Mark is a prolific award-winning composer and professor of guitar at Texas State University. If you like Largo, you may wish to see some more of Mark’s vast library of guitar ensemble literature available online here.