sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY

Here it is, sunday and I should have been out mowing lawns or weeding potatoes, or something, but I've been inside playing guitar all day long.  What I'm working on right now is a famous piece by a famous man, the Gran Vals by Francisco Tárrega.  Never heard of it?  Or him?  Yeah, I know.  But he's famous in the tight little circle that is classical guitar, and that waltz is famous there, too -- because it's fun to play, and has a catchy tune.

How catchy, you ask?  Well, listen for yourself:

Did you hear it? At about 0:15?  Here it is played on a piano.  Recognize it now?*

Okay, to be fair, that snippet is just three measures out of Tárrega's whole waltz -- but it is still heard approximately 20,000 times a second, worldwide.  Which makes Tárrega, at least in some small way, the most popular classical composer in all of history.

And it cracks me up.  I used to play this waltz 15 years ago, and am now relearning it.  Every time I get to those three measures, I smile a bit.

*Of course, Nokia left off the octave harmonic at the end, which is a shame.