Travessia (arr. Paulinho Nogueira) on Vibraphone
Publication Date
Spring 2021
College
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Music
Document Type
Video
Description
The song Travessia (1967) is the title track on brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento's first studio album. The portuguese title translates to "bridges," which Nascimento used to sum up the transition felt during heartbreak. In 1980, brazilian jazz guitarist Paulinho Nogueira played a version of the Travessia on solo guitar with an additional intro. I found the music to Nogueira's version but I there were two main challenges in playing it on vibraphone: I needed to transpose the piece from E to F and I needed to find a way to express six-note guitar chords with four mallets. This piece was an immense challenge, but that felt like a slight inconvenience compared the joy it gave me.