Week 4: Etude Extravaganza!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the forth 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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Sor - Selections from Opus 31
Last week, I worked on a few of my favorites from opus 60. These last few days, I have been working on a few good ones from opus 31. This is definitely a more challenging opus technically, so I limited myself to ones I could get sounding okay fairly quickly. I went with numbers 1, 4, 10, and 23.
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Eric Phillips Sounds great Eric! Thanks for sharing these!
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Eric Phillips Always a pleasure to hear you, Eric. I really enjoy your tone and relaxed manner of playing.
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Eric Phillips These are great, Eric. I am especially impressed (and fond of) op 31. 23). I find it a real challenge to let it have a lot of space but handled the tempo beautifully.
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Carcassi – Study No 5 from Op 60
Carulli - Larghetto alla Siciliana Op 241 No 42
A while back, we had a challenge on the 25 Progressive Studies of Carcassi (Opus 60), but this is one of the ones I never worked on. I definitely think it is more challenging than it’s lowly place at number 5 in the “progressive” list indicates. It took me a while to find fingerings that work for me, but I like what I came up with.
And just for fun, I'm throwing in a study by Carulli. I came across a video of this piece this morning on YT by David Jacques, and I wanted to try it. It’s from Carulli's method book.
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Eric Phillips I love those 25 Progressive Studies by Carcassi and remember well that Carcassi Challenge which was the first Challenge in which I participated. Thanks for bringing back that memory and thanks for posting this wonderful study and great job with it. The Carulli study is also very nice and a great addition to the Challenge. Thanks.
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Eric Phillips These are both very nice studies, Eric. Well played!
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Here is Heitor Villa-Lobos' Etude #6. This wonderful Etude is a great chord study which works both the left and right hands.
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Dale Needles Amazing, Dale! Please tell me that you have been working on that for a very long time. Your chord changes are so fluid, it’s like watching an athlete. Very impressive (and very musical, too)!
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Dale Needles Great job Dale! What a workout!
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Dale Needles Wow Dale! I never heard nor worked on that one. Your execution of those chord changes is so clean and noiseless (Carlevaro technique in action- wonderful!).
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Barney Marilyn Blodget Eric Phillips Thanks for all your kind words. It is a great Etude and definitely a great workout for both hands. Eric, it is true that I have studied this in the past. I actually studied this with Carlevaro back in the 1980s. I also have played it on and off over the years, but I had not played it for the past four years and decided with this Challenge, it was a good opportunity to return to it.
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Dale Needles This is great, Dale. I could never manage so many chord shifts so smoothly, cleanly and without squeaks! Great job!
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Jack Stewart Thanks!
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Dale Needles Bravo Dale, such well played and executed... definitely one of my preferred one of the set!
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Dale Needles very good interpretation . And, indeed, such clean chord changes are seldom heard. bravo! It’s not my favourite VL study, yet,I like to come back to it every now and then. Thank you for showing us such a great performance.
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joosje Blaise Laflamme Thanks. It is great etude to work our chord shifts. I also love the driving rhythm and as I mentioned it pairs well with Carlevaro's Estudio #5. Another of the great chord etudes of Villa-Lobos is, of course, Etude #4 which I have also played on and off over the years but unfortunately, did have time to work it up for this challenge.
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Dale Needles of course HVL#4... probably my preferred one of the whole set.
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I consider the La Catedral Prelude to be an extension of the Sor B minor etude that I posted earlier in the challenge. They both feature a melodic melody line supported by harmonic arpeggios. I got helpful tips from both Xuefei Yang and Tal Hurwitz. Thanks Tonebase.
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Marilyn Blodget Very beautiful and such a lovely dolce tone.
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Marilyn Blodget Such a beautiful performance, Marilyn!
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Marilyn Blodget very sweet and beautiful tone you have there. Thanks for sharing.
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Marilyn Blodget That was beautiful, Marilyn. Your playing is very precise, clear and musical, even in the upper registers.
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Jack Stewart Thank you Jack! I hope you had some great lessons at GFA.
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
