Andantino

This Andantino by Felix Horetzky will help with practicing music in 6/8 time. That means there are six eighth note beats per bar (or the mathematical equivalent). The "accent" of the beats or pulse thus become: strong; weak; weak; medium; weak; weak. Felix Horetzky was born in Poland in 1796 and died in 1870. He learnt guitar when young, but it wasn't until his mid-thirties that he went to Vienna to study guitar under Mauro Giuliani.

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He had to play, in public performances, to make enough money to continue his studies. He also landed a plum job as a guitar teacher to the Austrian archduchesses of the Imperial Family, no less, which helped enormously when paying the bills, to say the least. Horetzky went on to tour many countries and was particularly successful in the cities of Paris and London where his popularity reached a peak. He even went on to teach and live in Scotland for some years. Horetzky wrote many pieces for the guitar. Indeed, it is estimated he wrote up to one hundred and fifty pieces for the guitar alone.

More than Andantino...

It is interesting to note that this piece by Horetzky is supposed be the diminutive of the andante and thus should be played at a slower tempo. Over the years,  it came to be played at a faster speed between andante (walking pace) and the faster moderato. Here is a short outline of tempo markings with their Italian names to help you see the basic tempos...

 

Grave - very slow

 

Largo - slow and broad

 

Larghetto - not quite as slow as Largo Adagio - slow

 

Lento - slow

 

Andante - "walking pace" or medium slow tempo

 

Moderato - moderate, or medium pace

 

Allegretto - Between moderato and allegro Allegro - fast

 

Vivace - lively and brisk

 

Presto - very fast

 

Prestissimo - very, very fast

 

You should practice, and be able to play, music in all these varying tempos. Of course, if you perform regular practice drills such as scales and the like you'll eventually be able to master the more difficult tempo ranges such as presto and prestissimo.

My advice is to play the Segovia scales on a daily basis until you have mastery over this facet of technique.

I hope this page is helpful for you when playing music.

Here is a video of the piece...

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