Por Una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel Guitar Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

POR UNA CABEZA - 4 or 5 GUITARS or LARGE ENSEMBLEFor Classical or Acoustic Guitar - sometimes it's erroneously listed here as Electric Guitar.Derek Hasted writes "Originally a song about gambling - losing “by a horse’s head” - this charming tango has found new life as an instrumental in the film “The Scent of a Woman” where Al Pacino, playing a blind man, dances to this tune.This piece works well as a quartet (or large ensemble) and it spans early intermediate to intermediate abilities.There's an optional fifth descant line that captures violin solo in the film. In order to mimic the violin cutting through, this descant goes right up to fret 19 and requires an advanced player to make it sound effortless. But I have deliberately written this part using “8va” notation so that a less skilled player can play the descant, ignoring the 8va, and will find it sits comfortably on the neck of the guitar. In a school ensemble, it will be fun for everyone to see the teacher sweat a bit on the fastest sections of the descant.But the piece works perfectly without the descant as well...I’ve not covered the scores with fingerings, as some of the lines can be played on low positions by those starting out with guitar, or taken up the neck for a sweeter sound by more experienced players.This arrangement was a firm favourite with the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra (HAGO) and their audiences and the soundclip alongside the score on the SMP website is from a recording made live in concert. I hope you enjoy performing this piece as much as HAGO did! This is one of a large and growing range of accessible ensembles from experienced arranger Derek Hasted, and is supplied as full score and parts. Derek's website at www.derek-hasted.co.uk/smp lists all his arrangements by title and by "number of instruments", with links to soundclips and sample score.