Week 1: Our Unfinished Pieces!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "Unfinished Business" practice challenge!
- Choose an piece that you have started to practice but never fully commited to finish. It could be a an iconic masterpiece, a technical challenge, a sweet little miniature or a piece that you played a long time ago and always wanted to refresh! 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 piece or recording that you always wanted to learnm but is still "unfinished business". 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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Giuliani – Le Jasmin Op 46 No 4 (July 8 update)
I tried not only to play this more accurately, but also to add more musicality (dynamics, tone color, tempo, etc.). It’s fun to play!
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Eric Phillips Very nice Eric. Beautiful piece well played
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Eric Phillips beautiful, Eric! great submission . Musically very attractive interpretation.
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joosje Thanks, Joosje!
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Andre Bernier Thanks, Andre!
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Today’s update: https://vimeo.com/843537879
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Spare Machine
Good work, Mark, it's much improved again.
I have a few thoughts about what I saw:
- You are mixing in some rest strokes, which is very good for this music, as Llobet definitely comes from the "Tarrega" school (literally, he was Tarrega's student), which is known for the liberal use of rest stroke. However, I notice that when you play rest stroke, your hand position changes. You seem to lift your hand and bend your wrist. Now, I am the last one to give advice on rest strokes, as I practically never use them, but I do know that it is best not to change your hand position for them. I would encourage you to try to play your rest strokes with a straighter wrist. If you can't do that, I would advise playing the piece all with free stroke for now, and separately from this piece, try to develop a good rest stroke in which your hand stays in the same position as you use for free stroke.
- When playing the artificial harmonics, I again notice that you bend your wrist, making the fingers almost perpendicular to the strings (see your photo below). This is not your usual hand position, so I am not sure why you are doing it. Again, I suggest trying to make the harmonics with a straighter wrist. Below are two photos of my hand making an artificial harmonic. The first is with a bent wrist, and the second is with a straight wrist.
- As for your question in the video about whether or not to do a pull-off in the penultimate measure (D to A on the 5th string), I don't see any good reason to do one, either musically or technically. A pull-off will likely dampen the 4th string, which is supposed to ring through the end of the measure (although that's not a big deal musically). More importantly, I think a pull-off to an open string is much harder to control, and simply plucking the open A with the thumb seems a lot more controlled to me. I have seen several scores of this piece, and in none of them have I ever seen a slur (i.e. pull-off) marking there.
Please do keep in mind that I am not a professional guitar teacher. If anyone else out there disagrees with anything I wrote here, please let us know.
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Spare Machine You are making great progress on this piece, Mark. Your video was very illuminating (sorry - I'm an old dad.) As to your question - Using your thumb will give you more control of how you want that 'a' to sound. You can use a pull off there, you just want the decision to be made for musical reasons rather than convenience.
Great work.
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Eric Phillips This is amazing feedback. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to analyze my playing and to offer your advice. I really appreciate it!
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Giuliani – Le Romarin Op 46 No 5
Here is another one from this opus that I have worked on before, but I am now revisiting to polish it up. I actually played (and I use that word generously) this piece for a TB masterclass with Emmanuel Sowicz, but I did so poorly that it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. So anyway, here’s another stab at this piece.
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Eric Phillips Wow! I like that piece a lot. (I've always been partial to rosemary.) I would have never guessed that was Giuliani. It has some fascinating twists and turns.
Beautiful performance.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. It’s a surprising one for him, for sure. He must have been feeling depressed or anxious when he wrote it. I also wonder why he chose rosemary for that particular piece.
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Eric Phillips another interesting piece and great performance Eric, I'm surprised by how this opus sounds good... do you plan to play them all?
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Eric Phillips Very Nice, Eric. I think Sor is going to be a bit jealous with all your Giuliani posts.
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Dale Needles
good catch! -
Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise. I have no plan to play them all, but who knows?
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Dale Needles You're right, Sor might be getting jealous! I've got plenty of Sor that I've begun but never finished, so we'll see how it goes.
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https://vimeo.com/843661546?share=copy
I share this one bc E Sowicz was mentioned in the thread and, while I play this piece a lot, it still is "unfinished" for me (and maybe always will be). Note: I didn't grab the footstool before recording this one, so my body's relationship to the guitar may seem weird... Of course, all feedback, welcome!
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Spare Machine That was outstanding, Mark! Your love for the music is evident!
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Spare Machine That was beautiful, Mark. I had never heard the piece before, it is very nice. You played it wonderfully. Bravo!
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July 10 updates of Giuliani’s Le Rose Op 46 No 9 and Barrios’ País de Abanico
I am continuing to work on these two pieces. They are both memorized now (just from playing them so much), so I want to continue to hone in on more and more details. The Giuliani is certainly further along than the Barrios.
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Eric Phillips it’s such a treat to get to hear and watch you play! Thank you for sharing!
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Eric Phillips Great job, Eric! Your performance this year was truly remarkable. I couldn't help but notice the significant improvement in every aspect of your playing. Your dedication and hard work are a constant source of inspiration for all of us here at Tonebase!
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Wai Thank you, Wai. I appreciate the encouragement. From my perspective, the growth is not at all obvious.
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Sometimes the only practice I get in is while take my kid and his friends to the park. This is from yesterday, more-or-less the only playing I’ve gotten in recently. https://fb.watch/lIA46r4675/?mibextid=SDPelY
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Spare Machine Hey, Mark. I love playing outdoors, and your video reminds me I should do that soon. Unfortunately, since I don’t have FB, I could only watch about 30 seconds of your video. If you’re willing to use YT, you can embed your videos here pretty easily. You don’t have to make your videos public in YT to do it. If you’re interested but can’t figure it out (like I couldn’t), I think there’s a tutorial somewhere here in TB on how to do it (I’ll look around), or I could try to walk you through it with some private messages.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
