WEEK ONE Updates: Main Thread - Awakening Tárrega's Spirit
Hello and welcome to the WEEK ONE Main Thread for this challenge! 
Alright my friends - this is the thread where we'll all be posting our daily updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Twice a week between Mai 31st and June 21st, I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music here! (← click)
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
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Here is the first draft of Prelude number 5 - not sure that the timing is too good as I think there is a tendency to make the rhythm into triplets as Martin warned us against! Slight pause on one bit but i didn't have time to re record it. I will study the video and try to improve on it.
one thing I found easy: listening to Martin play it! Learning the notes wasn't too difficult.
One thing I found hard: listening to me play it! - R=Trying to get the timing of the dotted rhythm and the playing it with a nice legato
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Derek That was great, Derek! I love this music so much, and it’s such a joy to share our love for it.
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Derek How good !!! a piece not easy for me and you did it very well
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Derek Nice work! It's a lovely piece. I have to try that one.
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Derek beautiful!!! What a recording!!!!! Great tone
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joosje thank you Joosje
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Eric Phillips thank you Eric
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Giuseppe Gasparini grazier Giuseppe
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Olalla thank you Olalla. I hadn't heard it until recently and now it is one of my favourite pieces
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Emma thank you Emma
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Derek Awesome job, happy to hear that you try to implement the advises I gave in the the Playing Slow without Playing Boring Livestream! I will probably record this piece again for this challenge, I have some fingerings that might improve the legato if you decide to adapt them!
I hadn't heard it until recently and now it is one of my favourite piecesExactly what you say! It's such a beauty and I really enjoyed your overall dynamic flow through the piece!
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Derek This is my challenge piece too. Thank you Derek! It is very helpful to me to hear (and see) this performed by several different people and hearing their interpretations. Thank you again.
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Martin Thanks Martin - looking forward to your recording
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Paul Kennedy thank you Paul - good luck with your progress - it's a great piece
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Derek great performance and recording partner! Video is also very good, have you got a larger green screen?
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Gokce Turkmendag Merhaba Gokce. Thank you. I was learning this for three or four weeks before the challenge started so I used it as my first piece for the challenge. I haven't got a larger screen - I have managed to clear out some of the junk in my room :-) before that I always got something else in the picture so that I had to move the camera closer to me so as not to see anything else :-)
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Derek Lovely tone Derek and well played. Such a beautiful piece. Nice vibrato.
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Debbie thank you Debbie
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I've chosen to work on Rosita as it's not a piece I've played before.
Easy: reading through slowly - apart from when I forgot I was in D tuning!
Difficult: making time to practice - hopefully next week will be better
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Ron Oooh, I forgot about Rosita, very excited for that one!
Don't worry, I already forgot a D-Tuning while I played a duo on stage. Stuff like that happens!
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Hey guys, Sorry for delay in posting, but injured my left shoulder(I don't know how...). Anyway, I will hopefully try to post a video of something tomorrow...probably Capricho Arabe to start.
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Barney Oh no, get well soon!!!
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Martin Thanks Martin! Feeling much better today. As we get older, these annoying injuries, aches and pains occur more.
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Okay here goes! This is one of my all time favorite pieces. I'm going to work on Capricho Arabe.
Something that I've found easy: With this piece, because it's so close to my heart, I have listened to, and watched this piece played over and over again. I've watched the lesson here on Tonebase as well. I think the fingering on this works well and I've found alternate fingerings that seem to work for me.
Something I've found difficult: TIMING! Boy this is a stickler for me. When I play this piece, I've learned it, but the chords and fingerings primarily. Getting it squared away with the timing...that's always been tough for me. I like to ad-lib the whole thing, which when I've watched myself on a recording is all broken up because of the timing, but that is the tough piece for me.
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Chris I know that feeling, that's why recording yourself is so valuable! You really get a sense of the development of a piece over a longer period of time. When I recognize that in one of my pieces, I play through the piece quite slow without rubato and a metronome-like beat, just to see what the music is capable without any added "flavour"!
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Just for fun, I thought I'd try something different. I played Lagrima twice. The first time, I played it the way I typically play. The second time, I tried to exaggerate contrasts in dynamics, tone color, and tempo. Let me know which one you think is better.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
