Week 1: Etude Entrée!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "Etude Extravaganza" practice challenge!
- Choose an etude from a composer that captures your interest. It could be a soothing Sor etude, a technical Giuliani masterpiece, a Carcassi finger exercise, a harmonically rich Brouwer composition, or a rhythmically challenging Villa-Lobos piece. You're encouraged to experiment with pieces from composers you're not accustomed to or push your boundaries with a technically demanding work.
- Commit to regular practice and share your journey with the community. Aim to practice daily and upload at least two videos per week to showcase your progress. This will not only aid in keeping you dedicated and motivated but also enables you to share your musical journey with our tonebase family.
- Share your favorite etude or recording that epitomizes the concept of "Etude Extravaganza." Your submission will serve as inspiration for others and construct a vibrant repertoire of potential pieces for fellow members to explore.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Here is my second recording for this challenge.
Fernando Sor - OP. 60 No. 1
Still need some work to polish up and get a good sound and better flow between the sections but this is a good start.
I will start now working on the no.2 which is a bit longer but i still have plenty of time this month to learn it.
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Andre Bernier good work on this one André, as David said you have a thin and metallic sound as it looks like you're close to the bridge and seems to pluck without angle on the string, could also be that your nails are too long and not have a right shape.
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Blaise Laflamme David Krupka
Thanks Blaise and David. I changed my RH position that is now closer to the hole.
Here is the recording. Definitely better and I can still move up a few inches toward the hole which I will try tomorrow.
I do not have finger nails.
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Andre Bernier I love these Sor studies that you are doing Andre, and you're really rockin' them. I noticed in this video I can see your right hand. I could not see it in the previous two videos. Keep showing us your right hand - it's helpful for us and also your own review as well. Keep up the good work!
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García de León – Luciérnagas
I think I will make this my final recording of this study for this challenge. It still comes in a little slower than García de León asks it to be, but when I go faster, I am too inconsistent, and to be honest, I think it sounds good at this tempo.
Next, I will try to tackle the etude that inspired this etude, namely Fernando Sor’s Op 31 No 19, which I am finding to be much more difficult than I expected. We’ll see how it goes!
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Eric Phillips Very good, Bravo
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Eric Phillips well done Eric, sounds really good and secure at this tempo!
Can't wait to hear Sor's version 
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Eric Phillips Tremendous work and progress on this piece Eric! Way to go!
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Decided to do 3 Etudes for the next 3 weeks with the goal of increasing speed without increasing tension. I picked these 3 for the lack of barre's. I am nursing a injured index finger which makes barre's almost impossible without pain. Cause, I suspect tension.
1. Prelude III En Forme D'Etude by Claude Gagnon working on tempo, this piece is in 2/4 cut time with each half note clocking from 88-96, brutal. I will work on 80% of that around 74
2. Emilio Pujol Etude #13, great replacement for doing scales. This is just the first of 3 parts working to get this at 80% of 100
3. Carcassi Op. 60 No. 7 bars 11-17 working on stopping all strings on the slur section hope to get this to 90% of 84
Not a very enthralling video.
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Michael Shirk Great choices, Michael, and good work! I have never heard of the first one, but it's beautiful. The Pujol studies I have seen before, but never played before, and they certainly do not get the attention they deserve. The Carcassi, of course, is familiar, and a true classic of our repertoire. Nice variety!
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric, would’ve loved to play a Barrios study, but have to go real easy on the barre’s.
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Michael Shirk oh yes another Gagnon prelude from the set, great choice! Are you planning on playing full version of them or only use passages for technical work?
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Blaise Laflamme I’ll be playing the full pieces. Right now just spot practicing and memorizing. Should have more next week.
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Michael Shirk great pieces Michael, and really good idea to focus on decreasing tension. I think one of the potential pitfalls for me with these monthly challenges is to try to do too much too fast. Kudos to you, and keep up the good work!
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I have studied this etude a long time ago, the EL Abejorro, by Emilio Pujol . Here is a practice session of the first part , at medium speed, pimi.
Maestro Rene Izquierdo has a wonderful class on this etude , I am looking to incorporate some of his teachings in my practice in the next couple of weeks.
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Calin Lupa Pretty amazing, Calin! You call that “medium” speed? I call that “faster than I could ever hope to play it” speed!
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric, I believe this piece is actually easier to play than it looks, once you develop a bit of "reflexive speed" and practice by planting the fingers, and also in bursts and doted rhythms, as Rene advises and demonstrates.
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Calin Lupa really nice work Calin!
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Calin Lupa sounds really great! thanks for sharing.
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Hello to all, I,m posting a Dionisio Aguado study 15th…….in some bars the bass goes in triplets while the trebles in semicorchea (semiquaver in English language??)…I hope you like it.
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JUAN ALONSO What a great study Juan! You're handling it very nicely. It looks effortless for you. I can see how this study is beneficial. Great work!
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JUAN ALONSO That was beautiful, Juan! The bass part sounded very interesting, and you played it really well. Great job!
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JUAN ALONSO very nice! The beginning kinda sounds like over the rainbow?
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Sor Op 31 No 19 (Segovia #10)
Here is my first recording of this study as a follow-up to the Garcia de Leon study I have posted above. I am playing it VERY slowly. When I practice slowly, I try to be mindful of every single little detail of how I feel, and precisely what movements my fingers/hands/arms need to make.
I have decided to play the repeated figure with p-i alternation. This is Sor's suggested fingering, and it seems to work best for me. One issue I am having with this piece is the way the repeated figure occurs most often on an open string. Open strings feel very different than closed strings, so it is tricky to play it consistently.
Another more isolated issue is found in measures 7-8 in the picture below. At the end of measure 7, Sor adds a chord to the first note in the repeated figure, and then another chord on the downbeat of measure 8. I am not sure what right-hand fingering I should use for this. (In the video, I think I am using pim-i-p-i-pim, but I'm not sure.) Does anyone have any wisdom to share on this?
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Eric Phillips Seems like Garcia de Leon was the perfect predecessor/warm up to this piece! I've never attempted this one, so I don't have any specific words of advice, but one thing I like to do is find YouTube videos of people playing what I want to play and watch what they're doing - especially if they're getting a sound that really appeals to me. You can also slow the videos down quite a bit, so you can get a little bit better idea of what they're doing.
For example, following are two examples of people playing the piece differently. In the first one they guy is clearly using p-i-p-i, and in the second video the gal appears to be using i-m-i-m. However, her m and a fingers seem to be moving together, and the angle doesn't let you see clearly what's going on - at least in the first bit that I watched.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
