Week 3: Tackling Challenges!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third 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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Sor – Les Adieux Op 21 (July 19)
Here is another update. I now am playing completely from memory, without even a score in front of me. I still have memory slips, but not too many (except when recording, of course). The final section is still a bit slow, but that’s fine. Maybe with time and practice the speed will increase.
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Eric Phillips Wow, very nice Eric. This always a pleasure to watch you playing.
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Eric Phillips Sounding really good, Eric. I noticed that you softened the thumb strokes on those opening chords from the last post. That sounds much better. I also wanted to ask if you ever considered playing those opening chords with the flesh of the thumb and then as you reach the first string, turn your wrist slightly to the left and catch a little of the nail to bring out the highest note. This is a classic Carlevaro thumb technique when playing chords with the thumb. Just a suggestion, but in any case, you are sounding really good on this piece, and I do like the progress you made with the faster section. Also, very musical, and definitely one of your best posts.
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Dale Needles Thanks, Dale. Next time I sit down with the guitar I will work with your suggestion.
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Eric Phillips I will admit that I haven't been able to engage in the challenge up to this point, so I haven't heard your earlier recordings of this song, but I will say this - I listened while I was making dinner and this was such a pleasure to listen to! Great job on this.
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Eric Phillips That’s coming along nicely! Do you find when playing from memory you can be more expressive?
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While I'm finishing some Carlevaro's unfinished business for this challenge, I'm sharing with you a piece I finished last month for unexpected reasons, here's the link to the original post from My Practice Diary.
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Blaise Laflamme Very beautiful tribute to your mother and wonderful to hear it again.
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Dale Needles thank you Dale for a second listen... until a bit of Carlevaro!
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Blaise Laflamme That was beautiful, Blaise. Andrew York's music has a unique nostalgic quality, and you brought it out beautifully in your playing.
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Wai Thank you Wai, you're right about York music. Somehow in this session, related to the events, I was playing in a very different emotion than usual for this piece, but I had to do it.
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Blaise Laflamme Wonderful job Blaise. Andrew would be proud. Such a lovely and professional recording.
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Steve Pederson thank you Steve... slowly improving a little each time
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Blaise Laflamme Gorgeous Blaise! Such a beautiful warm tone, and very evocative of a mother’s love.
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Marilyn Blodget Thank you Marilyn for the kind words
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Blaise Laflamme This is beautiful, Blaise. Your playing always inspires (and frustrates me
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Jack Stewart thank you Jack for your kind comments, I hope to inspire you more than frustrate... I would sleep better
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Blaise Laflamme Please don't lose sleep on my account!
You always achieve such a finely polished and nuanced performance. I always seem to get to a certain level and then plateau. -
Jack Stewart thank you Jack for your appreciation, I try to expose and render my musical ideas as clear as possible... but don't get me wrong, I also reach my plateau more often than not and only time helps to climb this long upward slope
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Bach - Air
Hello friends! I want to chime in with a piece that I am hoping to finish soon. This is the first half of a transcription (maybe this should've been for the transcription challenge) of the Air from Bach's Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068, commonly known as Air on a G String.
I have two scores that I'm working from. One is WAY too easy and the other is WAY too difficult, so I am creating my own hybrid version of the two, using the original orchestral score as a guide.
My goal is to have the second half completed for my next recording - or at least a good working version of it.
I welcome your thoughts. One of the things that's very characteristic of this piece is the constant octave jumps in the bass line. I have tried to make that happen as much as possible. Sometimes it works, other times not so much. Some times it's just not possible.
If anyone knows of a fairly simple transcription of this piece that really does it justice, I'd love to have a look at it.
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Steve Pederson great job on the transcription Steve! a bit like you I remember long time ago looking at transcriptions for an event and they were too easy and missing a lot or impossible to play... I'll try to find what I used then.
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Steve Pederson I really like your transcription. It’s such a lovely piece. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you Blaise!
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Marilyn Blodget Thank you Marilyn!
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Steve Pederson Great beginning to this classic piece.
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