Week 2: Sharing the Journey 
WELCOME TO THE "A FRESH START" COMMUNITY CHALLENGE!
Embark on a musical journey with our latest challenge, "A Fresh Start". It’s time to dust off that sheet music you’ve been eyeing and dive into a brand-new piece!
CHALLENGE TIMELINE
- Challenge Start: Kick-Off on April 15th!
- Duration: April 15th to May 13th
- Watch Party: Join us on May 13th at 11 AM PST to watch selected submissions!
WEEK 2 ACTIVITIES
- Progress Sharing: You should have your new piece selected by now. This week, let's start sharing our progress. Post a video or describe what you've been working on. It's fascinating to see how everyone approaches the learning process!
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After trying for a few days, I think i’ve settled on the fingerings. It is pretty hard for me to stick to it as I realized i had so much bad habits with my right hand appregio picking. I tend to go i m a i when i play any appregio from g-b-e -e.
This exercise is great, I have somewhat memorized it. For now my aim is to make sure i’m conscious of my right hand and focussing on articulation.
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric! Not my child, but my neighbour’s. My neighbour’s elder children play the violin and piano and I play the classical guitar, so this might actually inspire the youngest to pick up an instrument or just drives him away..
It’s has been a really great exercise for me personally. Great piece as a daily technical work too imo.
This piece is actually the first Bach piece I learn, never really like Bach’s music until I heard Yo Yo Ma his NPR concert -which is great by the way. The more I learn about it the more I like about it.
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Hello to all, Happy to join this challenge....sorry for my late arrival....for this challenge I have chosen La Catedral prelude, from Agustín Barrios.....its a challenging piece which combines "campanela"(i dont know the Word in English) and positions inside the guitar body.....this is my first , uncomplete, take.....greetings
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JUAN ALONSO Nice, Juan. I really struggle playing over the body but you're getting that under your fingers nicely. Well done.
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JUAN ALONSO Good work, Juan. I have given this a try a few times. What I find most challenging is playing a mix of fretted notes this high on the neck and open strings. The string heights off the fretboard are so different that the right hand arpeggio becomes very difficult to execute.
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Hi!
I'm keep practicing Rodrigo's "Invocacion y danza". At this week I was trying to find the most "playable" fingerings in polo section and remember it.
I understand that I need a lot of practice with metronome... But it wasn't my focus at this week;)-
leonfazulin Incredible, Leon! May I ask how long you have been working on this? I assume it was prior to the beginning of this challenge, since you already have it memorized.
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Eric Phillips, not really. I did some research in late March, trying to find better version, and was trying to play it about three days, then I gave up and haven't touch this piece before the challenge.
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leonfazulin Wow! That’s incredible, especially that you already have it memorized.
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leonfazulin This is one of my favorite pieces by Rodrigo! It is quite challenging, but you are doing extremely well for the short period on it.
One suggestion for the beginning harmonics section - they are quiet passages, so string noise is more noticeable. Have you tried playing the wound bass strings harmonics with the Thumb instead of plucking with the "a" finger?
Which edition of the piece are you using?
I look forward to future updates when you are ready. Thanks for your courage in tackling this one!!
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BWV 998 Prelude mm 1-13 (ist page) rough draft
I decided to learn this prelude as it has been on my list for years, and because Sanel Redzic did a livestream on it last week. I had originally intended to present a Prelude by Rameau but It will have to wait.
The prelude is not that difficult technically, at least in some respects. I have been able to read thru it somewhat and I can play pretty much all of it in snippets. My real difficulty is in trying to get the right hand fingering down. This piece requires me to layout the RH fingering for the entire piece. I usually only do that only when there is a passage that is particularly tricky but it seems to me that every passage needs to be laid out.
It has taken this long to get the first third somewhat under control. I am almost thru the next page, so hopefully the rest will fall into place and I can begin working on phrasing and interpretation.
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Jack Stewart Good start and great choice. If you are having challenges with RH fingerings, then check out Carlevaro's arrangement which can be found in the Carlecaro Online Library. It is masterful!
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Jack Stewart Nice, Jack. Good start on this. I'll have to check out the replay of the live stream since a couple of people have mentioned how good it was.
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Jack Stewart It is going very well Jack. Great progress in very little time and you still have plenty of time to polish it . Bravo
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Jack Stewart Great to hear you play again, Jack! This is a real icon of the repertoire, obviously, so I tip my hat to you for tackling it. Excellent start. You'll get it sounding like Sanel's (or better) in no time.
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Dale Needles Steve Price Andre Bernier
Thanks Dale, Steve and Andre. I can't believe I haven't responded to these comments before. Sorry for the delay appreciation. Sometimes I just glaze over when it comes to computer stuff.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. Yeah, I sat out the Carcassi Challenge. I was hoping to clean up some of my repertoire pieces (as if I had any). I can't ever seem to get to a (near) finished state.
I am just hoping to be able play the whole Prelude before the end of the challenge.
You mentioned in your last post of Le Calm that the return of the 'A' section was difficult to play because it was just different enough which complicated things. This Prelude is like that. It is very motivic so same or similar phrases keep appearing but require completely different fingering, both LH (which is the most difficult for me) and RH.
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Jack Stewart Excellent Jack! This is coming along beautifully. Since you are now working on phrasing and interpretation, have you seen see video of this highly respected conductor guiding a guitarist on this piece? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1dvg2Ofk70
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Great start jack Bravo!!
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
