Zaradin, John: Chorinhos for Solo Guitar (Digital Download)

9 Latin style pieces for both study and performance, plus notes on the scores & fingering, glossary of chord symbols, and notes on rasgueados.

The A-B-A-C-A Choros form, is used as a basic structure for all of the pieces, and the styles and moods of the music vary from traditional and classical to Bossa Nova and jazz samba.

In Brazil, the Choros (diminutive Chorinho) owes its development to musicians, performing either solo or in groups, who, often being obliged to play long hours during functions and festivals, would improvise and create variations on popular and traditional themes. The compositions here are all based on this idea of stating a theme and then creating variations & contrasts.

Although the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic content of the Choros/Chorinho has evolved greatly over time its underlying beat feel is traditionally 2 per measure and written with a 2/4 time signature. This generally makes comfortable reading for the guitar player, because the beamed note groupings define clearly the rhythm patterns to be played. However, much music that originally appeared in 2/4 time is now published in 4/4, with a cut time feel, and which seems to be favoured by many musicians, including guitarists, who work in folk and popular idioms. For this edition the time signature which allows a clearer page presentation is chosen for each piece and no musical difference between the 2/4 and the Cut-time signatures is intended.