Practice diary 2024 - Andre Bernier
Starting a new practice diary for 2024 with few comments on what I have been working on in January.
My practice routine has been at least one practice a day (sometime 2 and even 3 on some days). Each practice is about 45 to 60 minutes. It starts with a 10 to 15 min warm up using about 5 of the 120 Guiliani's Right Hand studies. I have so far worked on 30 of them and I introduce 10 new ones every month. I hope that by the end of the year I will have make good progress on them.
I also came back on the Sergio Assad Sketch no 1 that I put aside in November and December. I progressively worked on the 4 parts of the piece. I am able to play each part at different speeds and still need the metronome for the last 3 parts. Still a lot of work to do but I made some progress.
I normally finish my practice routine by practicing one or 2 of the pieces I learned last year.
Here are the separate recordings of the 4 parts of S. Assad sketch 1 .
-
Andre Bernier Well done Andre. Sounds like you have them flowing well, just the tempo to work on. I recall that the hardest part for me was getting that fingering in the last line of No. 4 to work well. Looks like you have it figured out. I don't expect it will be long before you have them up to tempo.
-
Well another month behind us.
Despite many engagements to babysit our grand kids during the month; I have been able to keep my practice routine which include:
- warm-up -20 Guilliani's RH studies (working 35 of them so far) and some chromatic scales
- Practice - S. Assad sketch no. 1
- Practice - Going back in rotation to pieces I learned last year.
I was finally able to make a recording of the full four parts of Assad's piece today. This is the longest recording so far for me. I still need a lot more work to polish it up but it's going in the right direction
Now I will move to the Carcassi's piece for this month challenge
-
July 14th - 2024
Already another month has gone with some progress in my musical journey.
- I have now completed my trial with the Alaska picks and decided to adopt them with both classical and acoustic guitar. I still feel the need for more time before getting fully comfortable using them but I really feel the progress I made.
- I did not participate in this month's challenge on Tonebase. I just wanted to concentrate more on learning 2 new pieces and spend more time with my acoustic guitar.
- The two pieces I worked are:
Pujol’s Etude no 1. - A very good course on Tonebase with Rene Izquierdo
This is a very boring (but so valuable) study that I used to start learning to play using rest strokes ( Yes, I confess that I had no clue or experience in that technique) and develop my left hand flexibility on the high strings (4-5-6).
This has been a great exercise that I will keep and use it in my warm-up routine.
Brouwer Estudios Sencillos No. 1 - A very good course on Tonebase with Rene Izquierdo
I am still in the process of memorizing the Etude which is interesting because it introduces some Cuban rhythm that I am not used to. I should start to feel comfortable playing it at the end of July.
- In order to complete the work I had on my list for the Tonebase level 2; I still have to lean 3 pieces:
Fernando Sor Op. 60 No.4
Fernando Sor Op.60 No. 8
Landscape 2 - Gulli Bjornsson
I should be able to complete that before the end of the year.
- My progress on acoustic guitar was fairly limited as last month was mostly used to get comfortable playing with the Alaska picks.
With guitar trick program, I did concentrate playing back all exercises for their Acoustic guitar I level
With True Fire, I did the same with their acoustic guitar 1 and 2 courses. I also made some progress with the acoustic guitar 3 course (33% completed)
I am now planning to make more progress on both classical and acoustic programs in the next months. I also will introduce in my plan a great Idea that Jim King introduced which means to have a monthly recorded performance of a few pieces I already know. This will involve practicing them a few days before the official recording. This will be stressful but very interesting.