WEEK TWO: The Musical Voyage!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of the Sergio Assad Community Challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (← click)
- Watch the Kick-Off-Livestream on July 16th to get an overview!
- Download the scores for Assad's Etudes here (← click)
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 the etude!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your assignments and questions! ↓
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Hello friends,
here's my progress on sketch #3 and strangely this one was a lot easier for me than #2 and #1. Okay you'll tell me I totally miss the last note
and make the end of the piece totally odd 
(I'm with you on this) but... I really enjoyed the style ans character of this one. -
Martin thank you Martin, that sketch is more than suited for those kind of rhythmic and color contrasts, it was really fun to make my way through.
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Blaise Laflamme Bravooo!!
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Sketch VI Day 3. I have taken a new approach. Instead finding a way through the brick wall, I went around it a bit. You'll understand when you watch.
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Eric Phillips Very clever! I like your solution. Well played!
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Ron Thanks, Ron. That idea popped into my head last night, and it sure made playing it a lot easier, doing it in chunks. The editing on the computer was easier than I thought. Between this and helping you out with YouTube, maybe I should go into IT? (Nah!)
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Eric Phillips I was in IT belive it or not!
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Ron I remember you saying that somewhere. Not my calling, for sure!
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Eric Phillips What a nice idea... that piece has now a lot more direction, your progress on this one is impressive. As I said before, you have a lot of creativity!
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise!
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Eric Phillips Great job! You are closer to reality than you might think when it comes to editing this stuff! If you'd have recorded with 2 cameras, you could have switched at each edit point to another camera and nobody would have noticed that this is in fact stitched together! Maybe you'll give this recording thing another try at some point
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Martin Maybe I will …
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Sketch VII Day 1. Well, I went around the brick wall of Sketch VI only to find a higher wall called Sketch VII! I only played measures 1-39 (the first three variations). Trust me, if you listen to it, you'll thank me for stopping early.
What was easy: Does not apply here
What was difficult: Can I just say everything? Here are some particular issues:
- These chords are killer on the left hand! In particular the F#m11 found for the first time in measure 7. I simply cannot play that with the fingering Assad gave. I checked the video of his performance, and he does indeed play it that way. I have to re-finger it without a barre, but it's still ridiculously hard.
- The changing of meter just is not smooth for me. I have to admit that I don't really like abrupt meter changes like these. They don't feel natural to me, even when I'm just listening to them. Again, it feels more like an exercise than like music. (And I haven't even gotten to the polyrhythms yet!)
I'll keep plugging away, I guess.
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Eric Phillips I think it's a great achievement to even get to bar 39! It's definitely going to be a while before I try to tackle this one - let alone the ones that follow! Well done Eric!
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Ron Thanks again. Ron. I actually am thinking of taking a whole different approach to this one as well now. My ideas are still in the embryonic stage, so I won't make them public just yet.
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Eric Phillips good work here too!
I think once you've mastered the chord shapes you could probably emphasis more on the rythme and then come back to mix both together... still three to record until I'm there... this one looks fun to play! -
Blaise Laflamme Thanks again, Blaise. I'm still figuring out the direction I want to go.
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Eric Phillips these ones are tough, good job, Eric! When I get to this one, I think that particularly I would study it for a little longer than the others to internalize more those rhythm and meter changes, since they are difficult. But you're doing well and I know you'll do even better next time, you always do
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Daniel Beltrán Thank you, Daniel. I've got something a little different that I'm working on for this one. I'll probably post again tomorrow.
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So week 2. I had some time to watch the rest of the progress videos today and decided I will stick to sketches 1 through 5 for the period of the challenge. I think 6 though 10 will be part of my study plan for the next year (at least!)
Each on one of the skecthes is so rich in learnings and I think it's well worth while staying with each of them over time - I keep discovering new things as I revsit and get to know them better.
I read through 3, 4 and some of 5 today (no videos at this stage I'm afraid)
No. 3 seems reasonalbly straightforward, although I need to make sure I observe the rests. The improvisation is fun!
I really like no. 4 but I need to solve a few fingering problems.
Lots of work in progress!
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Ron You are a wise man, Ron! Each of these really should be studied for several weeks at least. I hope we get to hear you play some more.
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Ron Great Ron, thanks for your update!
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Hey guys, here is my first take on Sketch VI, a commented Read-Through after approx. 10-20min of practicing it, I hope you can draw at least some value from that!
- Things you found easy: The rhythm guided me through the piece! Funny enough, the mixed shapes worked better for me as they were (mostly) diatonic, something that my hand is just used to play in repertoire! the 4ths and, minor 7ths worked fine as well, as I only needed to look at one of the notes, the second one easily fell into place!
- Things you found difficult: It is super annoying to already know the rhythm of the piece but not the associated notes with that rhythm, usually it's the other way around! It makes this Sketch so frustrating to learn, because in every bar there might be something you miss because we tend to play it a little bit too fast in the beginning since we already know the rhythm. I realized in the first bars already, that this Sketch would need a careful eye for the details, possibly will change some fingerings!
I will do a deep dive into the second half of the Sketches on Saturday (←click), I hope to see some of you there!
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Martin Thanks for doing this Martin! I love hearing what's going on in your mind as you work through the music. And yes, I did make it to the end. Sergio Assad is cool! What I received was much better than a pot of gold!
P.S. I've been working on those Carlevaro thumb damping exercises you gave us. I have to do them SO SLOWLY! It's just not a motion my fingers are used to doing. Those will be part of my daily routine, for sure. Thanks for giving that to us!
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Martin great advices Martin, thanks for taking time to share this with us because Sergio Assad is cool!
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Martin Thanks Martin, great to hear your thinking and insights as you work through pieces. Yes he IS cool ... and so are his compositions. Unfortunately I won't be able to make Saturday, but I will catch up on it later. I'm planning to work on the 2nd half of the sketches over the coming months!
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
