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 #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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Barney Hi Barney, I see if I can make a video about that tomorrow!
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Martin That would be great Martin, thanks!
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Martin Thanks and wondering how the memorization approach may be different for a piece with this type of tonality and rhythm... and how you think about the odd rhythms to keep them flowing smoothly.
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Barney for me it's all about memorizing the music by figuring out what's going on (melody, rhythms, chords, patterns) and set on musical ideas. Fingering is coming second while I try multiple solutions as I go through the piece and ultimately set on them as they serve well or better the ideas as they're shaping out. In this piece the 7/8 divided mostly in 4+3 or 3+4 gives most of the articulation for the top or bottom ostinato alternated with chords sequences, but it may take a while before it makes sense
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise! That seems like a good and logical approach that's working successfully for you. I appreciate your input!
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Hello everybody! My first posting if the week. This week I have been practicing no 3 and 4. I was going to videotape today no 3 but I still make mistakes in the coda at the speed of the rest so let’s see if the night sleep works and I can post a video tomorrow.
For no 3: the hardest part is the slurs with the fixed G in the base, mainly the first slur G to A. My weakness are the slurs I think. I am practicing with metronome and keeping the R hand fingerings so I can learn to keep discipline in my right hand. I have changed a few fingerings if the left hand and try to keep no 2 in C fixed throughout the coda, and having a few problems with it. I hope I can give some musicality to it, although I don’t want to make it sound as something it is not. I have not played much contemporary music and I am not so confident with this as in the carcassi ChallengeThe only easy part is that once you start the progress is good and I am even giving some speed to it. I am not very good at playing fast …
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For number 4, I have gone through the first half. It is a fast study, a challenge for me. But beautiful and very very addictive.
the hard thing again the slurs with the bar, I even hurt myself, but it is good to develop a rough hard index finger. Again, I have to practice my slurs. And then the rhythm is so frenetic that it is easy to get lost. Practice practice but for this I will post a video too-
Emma Looking forward to hearing you play them both!
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Emma I'm happy you're working on both of them, they are also the next ones I plan to record, then 5 and 6...
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Looking forward to your post, Emma ! True, these studies are addictive. But, don’t hurt yourself, it will cause you too much afterwards. Just work until you reach the edge, insisting a bit, but don’t go over it.
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Finally, I can begin this challenge. I got caught up with all the videos, etc., yesterday and worked on Study 1.
- Things you found easy: The notes, rhythms, and fingerings all came easily enough and I was able to play it at the suggested tempo.
- Things you found difficult: I made a rough audio recording of it and was horrified at the number of finger squeaks, measures 3, 5, 9, 13, & 14. Yikes. I don't know if it's a result of being a septuagenarian, playing mostly ensemble music for the last 9 years, or a combination. Anyway, the squeaks have to go so I refingered measure 5 and lift the bass notes in measure 9 just a bit sooner and that seems to help, along with being sure to lift my fingers up before moving horizontally. Another day on it working out squeaks and incorporating some expressive elements and it should be good.
- (Optional): a video of you performing it! I am also trying to figure out a way to get a video recording.
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Peg Barrett welcome to the challenge Peg! you're right, audio recording can be merciless
... good luck with video recording, you can do an easy setup with your phone up to more sophisticated, I hope to see one of yours soon. 
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Peg Barrett welcome to the challenge!!! I would love to hear you play... and yes, recording is a challenge in itself
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A very warm "Hello" to all of you,
slowly I am back here also actively (I have not played for months (!!) - very unusual for me, and very sad - due to a shoulder problem making it impossible to play; I had that a few years ago with the other shoulder). That is also the reason why I missed a lot here during the last months (masterclasses, challenges etc.). However, I was watching a lot. And I watched all your submissions here so far, and without commenting on each individually I want to congratulate all of you and I am spending big applause! Now, I am able to play approximately 10 minutes without break
, which is a large step for me at the moment. I am very happy about this challenge and started with No. 1-3, I have to be a bit careful and do not want to overstress the arm/hand. I was not able to record the stuff during the past few days. But I can say that I had fun playing them, first round by sightreading, which is ok for me. Then I try to go deeper into details, e.g., with fingerings and of course musicality. I do hope that I will be able to record soon and share the stuff here with you, the tonebase community which is sooooo great!!
Best greetings again to all of you - stay safe and healthy and have also fun and progress with these etudes. Koshkin's music is really great - I love them (e.g., the larger pieces like Usher Waltz which I was working on before the shoulder "crash" but also the shorter ones like Preludes & Fugues).
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Robert I'm happy to see you back! I hope you'll recover as soon as possible and I also hope to listen to you by the end of this challenge if that works! Take care
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Robert We're glad to have you back and hope your recovery goes well! I can't even imagine how difficult this ordeal must be for you.
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- Robert great to hear from you. I hope you will get back in form soon, so that we we will hear your submissions again. These Koshkin’s studies are so inspiring, indeed. Best wishes Robert!
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Robert so glad to have you back and well, the music and fingers will be back quickly!!!
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Study 6 measures 5-11
I'm really struggling and I need some help. I've "finished" working on #1-5, but when I tried sight reading #6-10, they all seem completely beyond me, which makes me wonder if I really should try working on them at all. Maybe just going back into #1-5 deeper would be more productive. Not sure.
That said, I thought, "Maybe I could work on a very small section of #6 that is causing me problems, not even worrying if I ever get to the entire piece." So, I'm giving a shot at measures 5-11, which involves something I have never done before. It has a staccato bass line with a legato melody line.
My problem is, I really don't know how it should be done. I'm happy to put in the slow practice and work on the skill, but I want to make sure I'm doing the skill correctly. So, if someone (Martin
or anyone else who knows the skill) could watch the video and give me some input, I would be very appreciative. (Sorry for the pained look on my face below!)
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Eric Phillips I encourage you to work on the next pieces even if you only scratch the surface, you'll see the benefit later! Here low notes are eighth notes so If you play them staccato, as one of your suggestion, they would then become sixteenth notes, that would make it a bit more rhythmical but also differ the simultaneous mute and pluck, to ease it at low speed, but you'll run into problems when increasing the speed since you have more finger actions involved. I would personally mute the low note on the next upper note as a combined mute-pluck action to reduce the effort and make it easier to play overall, as it is written. BTW that musical passage is just awesome!
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks for listening and for the advice, Blaise! Like I mentioned, I am finding that nearly impossible to do as written without going extremely slowly at first (like quarter =20). I just find it really hard to do that motion with my right hand while also changing the melody notes with my left hand. It just feels like too much going on at exactly the same time. Maybe I should turn it into an open string exercise and work on that first, just to take the left hand out of the equation. Just a thought. Again, I really appreciate your thoughts. And you're right, it does sound pretty cool when done well. I'd like to be able to do it with rest stroke, but that makes it even harder for me as I use rest stroke so infrequently and I am not very good at it.
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Eric Phillips absolutely, as you suggest I would probably use both open E, then slowly play quater notes plucking both, then next mute lower + pluck upper.
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Eric Phillips I think it’s a good idea to work on the second set of pieces as well. Or concentrate on one or two of them.
as for the staccato section it seems like a good idea to work on the open strings the way Blaise suggested. I think I play this section (not too staccato and I decided to stop with RH. If you begin stopping the G# with LH you must then change the technique for the open A and later D. In a more up speed tempo the difference between eighth or sixteenth notes is hardly audible. Marina plays staccato. It sounds good to me. But she is fast…. another tricky moment in m 21 /22 where the staccato /legato roles switch between upper voice and bass… my fingers are unwilling to follow.
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joosje Thanks, Joosje! All the right hand articulation is really new to me, so what better way to dig into this challenge. It's getting there slowly. Thank you for your thoughts and encouragement.
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Eric Phillips I don't know how to help you but pain is gain. My staccato is not good... With these difficulties we learn a lot, and your sound is very good. My approach is try to do less and better but maybe Blaise is right and we have to touch more studies ...
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
