Petit Poney By Yvon Demillac

Petit Poney comes to us from the little-known French-born composer Yvon Demillac. After initially studying cello, Demillac switched to guitar and studied with Carel Harms and Alexandre Lagoya. He ran in the circles of Sylvain Lemay, the founder of the music publisher Les Productions d’OZ, because Lemay encouraged Demillac to pursue and publish his compositions.

Publications of Petit Poney

The small piece played here comes from the collection titled Images. The subtitle for the collection indicates the purpose: 35 petites pièces pour commencer la guitare. This translates roughly to, “35 small pieces to start the guitar”. There is no doubt that these pieces are small (read small as short). The length, however, does not take away from the purpose or musicality that they offer.

About The Piece

Petit Poney falls in the Royal Conservatory level of Preparatory. Typical of beginning pieces, the key remains in A minor throughout the short 20 seconds or so. I play it with free strokes but many beginners might find playing with rest strokes more appealing. All in all, the image of a small poney comes to mind as you listen to the phrasing.

On a side note, I want to encourage anyone who may think simple pieces are not useful for advanced players. Playing a simple piece like this allows you to focus on specific movements that you may overlook when playing something much more complicated. I have found kinks in my playing by working on simple pieces and focusing harder on the specifics.

So whether you are a beginner or an expert, enjoy!

Check out some of our other articles:

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• First Exercise on the E String by Mertz
• Petit Poney By Yvon Demillac

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Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.