WEEK 1: Dóbroje útro (Good Morning)!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Nikita Koshkin challenge! This is the place for the Week 1 Submissions!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
- Get the Scores Here
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
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study No. 7
not as easy as it looks. I try a moderate tempo here, hope to get better after some time.
challenge:
the slurs, there are many and i tend to miss a few all the time. Keeping them rhythmical...
the litlle tremolo at the end on strings 4 and 5: nail noise! I took some extra nail care but couldnt get the sound cleaner
I will not be able to record, or even practice, much until Sunday. This is the best I could do on this one today. I promise an update later, although I want to work on 9 and 10 as well.
I have no printed schores so I cant write my fingerings, In this one RH fingerings are scarce. I am a little lost in bars 17 18... ( my solution: a im ami im ami, but its not yet controlled)
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joosje Sounds beautiful. Also, just curious about your instrument. What kind of guitar is that? Is that an extra bass string?
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Elizabeth Uyehara yes Elizabeth, it’s a seventh string attached to a normal spruce guitar, built by a Dutch luthier Baarslag.
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joosje Wonderful Joosje! It's a real pleasure to listen to you play. Thanks for submitting this!
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Study #10 - Day 3 Update!
There still some hellish passages (15-16 and 22-26), but it's coming together quicker as expected. It's kind of addictive, it's clearing your mind like a freshly brewed green tea
Playthrough at 80bom at 4:15 and playthrough at q=100bpm as a separate video!
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Martin thank you Martin for this update, it's taking shape fast! I'm still far from being at that tempo and from having resolved fingering issues, but while learning easier ones I'm still progressing on it, I hope to have it in a listenable state by the end of the challenge!
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Finally got a few minutes to post tonight! This week I've been working on Studies 1, 2 & 3.
No. 1 - Apart from adding a few accidental accidentals (!) when first trying to sight read it's going OK
No. 2 - Really like this one. I think the main challenge for me is making sure there are no unwanted sounds when changing chords. Found it really useful to use some of Mircea's ideas on right hand preparation in the arpeggio section.
No.3 - Only sight read a couple of times so far.
Also listenend to Marina Krupkina's 2020 album Decacorde Stories - if you've not heard it, it's worth checking out - awseome stuff!
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Study 5 (final version?)
Here is one more take at this study. Not perfect, but I might want to move on for now. I'll see after I sit with it for a while.
Martin - I did try your proposed fingering for measures 36-38, and I used some of it, but not all of it. I still prefer to do the barres. The result isn't great in this video, but I was having more difficulty with your fingering. Maybe I just need to practice it more.
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Eric Phillips beautiful Eric. You did a great job on this one, paying attention to the details, the connection between the sections, tone, dynamics. Its beautiful. But never use the expression ‘final version’, there is always time to develop. I think pieces like these would benefit a lot from being played by heart and that takes time (we’re not all Martin…)
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joosje Thanks, Joosje! I never meant that I would stop playing it, just that I wanted to move on to another piece. To be honest, though, after reading through a bit of #6-10, I'm not sure any of them are within my ability to play well, so I may just do as you suggest, memorizing #5 and making it more my own. I'm still thinking through what I'd like to do next.
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- Things you found easy: Study #2 took a bit more work than #1 but learning notes not too bad.
- Things you found difficult: Getting a smooth legato. I guess that's one of the skills to learn in this study and it's still something for me to work on.
- Video/recording detail: New audio interface (SSL2) seems to have eliminated lots of problems I had with audio, plus I've been going through the (3 hour!) livestreams Martin did as part of the recording challenge back in January so in this video I recorded the audio using reaper, then imported the video and sync'd before rendering. I added a very light reverb FX since I'm recording in the garage again. Hopefully next week the CM4s will come and then my new setup will be complete!
Off the forums for the next few days as we deliver my son to college in L.A., but I'll check-in with everyone's videos on Monday and start on #3
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Brett Gilbert good job Brett and your sound is better each time! The SSL2 looks like a great audio interface, can't wait to hear you with the CM4s. You're totally right about legato here, that's probably the hardest challenge in this piece. Slowing the tempo a bit would probably help and give you more time to move between chords, also what works for me is to imagine the music the way I want it to be played and reproduce what I hear.
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Brett Gilbert beautiful, especially the arpeggio’s part and the first transition from chords to arpeggios. The sound is so so good!
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Brett Gilbert that’s really beautiful Brett. Good tone and flowing rhythm. Very nice performance.
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Brett Gilbert Great job Brett!
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Brett Gilbert Absolutely fantastic, Brett! Super excited to hear the SSL2 together with the CM4s, but the most important factor of a recording remains the person in front of the mics!
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Study #10, Day 4 Update: Playing it by heart
Still some quirks to figure out and sometimes my brain is slower than my finger which results into stumbling over some of the fingerings (and the scales are no smooth as I didn't practice those for quite a while now), but it's getting along! A couple more days and I will move on to the next one, which one should it be?
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Martin
... bravo! -
Martin I looked up "the man" in the dictionary. There was a picture of you!
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Martin So, Emma was right, maestro it is…
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Martin Love how you say "Let's go" and then launch into the song. That made my day!
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Martin Wonderfully performed Martin. That provided some very nice phrasing and helped clarify many of the passages - not that I am in a position to make use of them.
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Martin Amazing Martin! Can you give us guidance on how you memorize pieces like this with such usual melodies/harmonies that are not very "singable"?
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Martin wow!!! wonderful!!!!
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Barney Emma Jack Stewart joosje Elizabeth Uyehara Eric Phillips Blaise Laflamme
Thanks so much guys! I have been a little bit lazy the last days, but you'll get some more updates and then I'll dive into No.9!
Barney Happy to do that! -
Martin You did such a wonderful job on this, and memorized as well. That's awesome!
I haven't had a chance to try try working on this yet, but wondering about the "Staccato" playing. How are you handling it in this piece with movements from open strings to lower strings, for example. Are you generally using RH to stop the sound, or LH in these passages? Can you provide some examples to illustrate the different staccato movements used ? Thanks!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
