Back to my main page for guitar tablature for Virgil Thomson's The Plow That Broke The Plains, including links to the 3 movements which include guitar or banjo.
Let me know if you ever make use of this. Thanks. Donald Sauter.
Short ID: PLOW6.
Title: The Plow That Broke The Plains; Mvmt 6. Devastation.
Composer: Virgil Thomson.
Source: Orchestral score.
Tuning: EADGBE. Guitar part.
Time sig: Cut time. Half=72.
The guitar part for movement 6 "Devastation" fits well on the fingerboard
until measure 122; from there on adjustments have to be made. My decision
was to remain faithful to the highest notes of the written chord and jettison
unplayable bass notes, as opposed to finding a full barre-chord formation of
the chord somewhere lower on the fingerboard. For example, for the last chord
in the piece, C# major, I went with a truncated, 4-note version barred at the
13th fret as opposed to the easy, 6-note version found at the 9th fret.
Original chords (m=measure):
m122 m125 m127 m129
_____________________________________
|___11___|____9___|____8___|___13___|
|____9___|___10___|____9___|___14___|
|____8___|___11___|____8___|___13___|
|___10___|____7___|___10___|___15___|
|____6___|____4___|____6___|___11___|
|____4___|____2___|____4___|____9___|
There was also a G# below the low C# throughout m123, making a 7-note chord.
Thomson did not indicate strums for the guitar chords, but it seems natural
to me. I strum every chord with the thumb from bass to the treble. As with
baroque guitar tablature, a stem by itself with an arrowhead means to strum
the same chord again.
Explanation of symbols:
[51] = rehearsal number 51, for example.
^ (arrowhead) = big thumb strum. For a neater appearance, re-draw
the ^ arrowhead right at the top of the stem.
z = rest. Fill in to make a solid block.
NOTE: the tablature begins at measure 98 in the movement.
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The Plow That Broke The Plains; Mvmt 6. Devastation. PLOW6: Page 1 of 1.
EADGBE. Guitar part. Leading measures: 98 107 116 125. Virgil Thomson.
(m98) [51]
flute... violin
___
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________|_9______|___11_9__|_________|___________|________|________|_______6|_8___4_4_4|_______
____9_9_9|________|________9|_10______|___10_10_10|_9______|___7____|___7_9__|__________|_______
_________|________|_________|_________|___________|________|_____9_8|_9______|__________|_______
_________|________|_________|_________|___________|________|________|________|__________|_______
_________|________|_________|_________|___________|________|________|________|__________|_______
_________|________|_________|_________|___________|________|________|________|__________|_______
guitar [52]
mf poco a poco cresc. ff
^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^
|. | | | | | | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | |
______^___________________^___________________^___________________^____________________^________
__9________|________|_2________|________|_4________|________|_4________|_4______|__9________|___
__9________|________|_2________|________|_4________|________|_5________|_4______|__9________|___
__9________|___z____|_2________|___z____|_5________|___z____|_6________|_5_z____|__9________|___
_11________|________|_4________|________|_6________|________|_6________|_6______|_11________|___
_11________|________|_4________|________|_6________|________|_4________|_6______|_11________|___
__9________|________|_2________|________|_4________|________|__________|_4______|__9________|___
cresc. fff
^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^
| | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | | | | | |. | | | |. | | |
____________^___________________^____________________^_____________________^__________^_________
______|_2________|________|_4________|________|__9________|___11____|__9________|__________|____
______|_2________|________|_4________|________|__9________|____9____|__9________|__________|____
_z____|_2________|___z____|_5________|___z____|__9________|____8____|__9________|__________|____
______|_4________|________|_6________|________|_11________|___10____|_11________|__________|____
______|_4________|________|_6________|________|_11________|_________|_11________|__________|____
______|_2________|________|_4________|________|__9________|_________|__9________|__________|____
[53] tremelo
cresc. dim.
^ __ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^ __ ^ ^ ^
|. | | | |. | | | |. | | | |. | | | |. | | | | | | |
______^__________^___________^__________^___________^___________________________________________
__9________|__________|__8________|__________|_13________|_________||___________________________
_10________|__________|__9________|__________|_14________|_________||___________________________
_11________|__________|__8________|__________|_13________|_________||___________________________
_11________|__________|_10________|__________|_15________|_________||___________________________
__9________|__________|___________|__________|___________|_________||___________________________
__9________|__________|___________|__________|___________|_________||___________________________