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 .
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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.
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Jim King Thanks Jim. For me, this was the second line of part 2 that was and still is a challenge. The bar 45 that needed the fingers 2,3 and 4 was very hard. There was no other option because you need the 1 finger in the next bar.
Anyway, thanks again
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Great work, Andre. Your playing has much more confidence now.
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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
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Andre Bernier Well done, Andre! Not only is your playing improving technically; it's becoming far more 'musical' as well! This 'sketch' flows very nicely. Looking forward to hearing the Carcassi!
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David Krupka Jack Stewart Thanks for taking the time to listen to my recordings and for your support.
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Andre Bernier Nicely done. You maintained a nice steady beat throughout each section. I find that tough to do without the metronome. My one suggestion is to watch that you are giving the notes at the end of each line their full value in beats. In this piece each line ends with a half note or a dotted half notes and it appears that you are cutting them off too soon.
Looking forward to hearing your Carcassi piece.
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Jim King Thanks Jim. You are right... I use a metronome as long as I can't get very comfortable with every section of a piece and a reasonable tempo. If I don't do that, I have a tendency to speed up gradually and just crash where the section is more difficult.
You are also right for the end of every line. Again this is my bad habit of trying to speed things up.
Are you considering participating in the challenge?
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Andre Bernier The piece I am working on for the Carcassi challenge is Carcassi's Allegretto in C from his Op. 59, his method collection for the guitar. I think I am getting close to doing a slow play to post in the challenge.
How is your piece coming along?
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Jim King Good choice Jim. This is a fairly short piece and with few repetitions. This should be easy to memorize. However, there are some good challenges in the RH arpeggio. Good luck, I am looking forward to your first recording.
I am a little late with my piece. Just started a few days ago but it is going very well. I should be able to make my first recording this week.
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Andre Bernier This is really good, Andre. You have maintained a consistent musical expression throughout. This shows great improvement. Great job.
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Jack Stewart Thanks a lot Jack
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Here is my last recording of:
Fernando Sor Op. 60 No. 9
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Andre Bernier Sounding good Andre. Of all of the pieces I have played to date, this one still ranks as one of my favourites.
It looks like the Alaska picks are working well for you. Well done.
Also, did you add some reverb to your audio portion? I thought the audio portion sounded fuller than your previous recordings.
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Jim King Thanks Jim, I also like this piece. This will definitely be a keeper for the future.
I used Bandlab to work on the sound track
The effects are:
Equilizer - increase a bit the low and mid range
Reverb - about 20% - Innovation hall style
Delay - just a little touch
Finally I increased the gain a bit
Still playing with that but it seems to improve a lot the overall sound of the video.
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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.
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Andre Bernier Good to read your update and see what you have been doing.
I will be interested to hear how you get on with Brouwer Estudios Sencillos No. 1. I started to work on that one but put it away for now; just couldn't get comfortable with the rhythm.
Landslag II, which is on your to do list, is an interesting piece in that is very unlike Landslag I. I'm enjoying working on that one as well as re-visiting Landslag I to improve it.
Also was good to hear that you are going to introduce the monthly recording of a performance. I find it useful to compare different recordings of the same piece to see one's progress. I find that it is useful to actually "book" a specific date to do it. That way I'm unlikely to procrastinate and put it off to another day.
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Jim King
I agree with you Jim. The rhythm of the Estudio Sencillos No.1 is pretty difficult to internalize. I guess that it is because we are not from South America or Cuba. The course on Tonebase by Rene Izquierdo is very helpful in this aspect.
I found that your idea of fixing a date every month for a performance recording is quite interesting. I will begin in August and start with 2 or 3 pieces.
See you around
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It has been a long time since I took the time to update my PJ.
Over the last couple of months I made good progress in different but complementary activities:
Classical guitar:
- I am actually working on the last piece of the beefed up Tonebase level 2 program I was planning to complete this year ( Landslog II – Gulli Bjornson). I will on this piece in the October challenge.
- I am also working on a piece for the Christmas period – an intermediate version of Greensleeves. I would like to be able to make a recording in December.
Acoustic guitar:
- I have now completed 78% of the Truefire Acoustic guitar 3 – tools and techniques and expect I will finish this module before the end of the year.
- I am also working on a piece for the Christmas period. This is an intermediate fingerpicking version of ”Angels we have heard on High”- ” Les anges dans nos campagnes”. I would like to be able to make a recording of that song in December.
For sure, these two christmas songs can be played on both classical and acoustic guitar.
Piano:
- I started 2 years ago a piano program called ”Piano for all”. I have not been consistent in practicing so my progress is not what it should be. However for a month now I am practicing daily and I can already feel the progress. The program has 18 ”Books” that include lessons with videos and recordings. I am now in book 3 of 18 and expecting to be done with book 3 by the end of the year.
Other activities:
Yes, I have other activities……
I bought the Musicality book, reading a bit every day and following (backseat) the bootcamp.
I also purchased the ”Chrod progression Codex” from Jake Lizzio. This is a great book that fits with a lot of concepts we worked on in the Living music program but adds a layer of understanding that will be very useful in the future. I also read a bit of the book every day.
Finally, I decided to start a daily ear and signing practice using an APP (Perfect Ear) that I purchased a couple of years ago.
The key for me is to find a way to include some of the learnings of these other activities in my guitar and piano practices. Easy to say but an every day challenge. Some days, I feel lucky that I am retired
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OK, let’s post some recordings.
First, I finally gave up and purchased a new classical guitar. I was using a Cordoba C7 and now purchased a Cordoba C12. This is the best you can get before investing in a luthier hand made guitar which is about twice the price I paid for the C12.
I made these two recordings to compare the tone of these guitars playing the same piece in the same setting and no audio tricks.
The piece is Emilio Pujol – Etude no. 1
Musically, this is not a very interesting piece but this is a great piece to practice rest stroke with alternate I-m fingers and work the left hand fingering in position I & II on the low strings.
Here is the recording with the C7 and the C12 :
I know my playing is not great but I am sure this will improve with time.
What do you think about the C12 tone?
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Andre Bernier Andre, first congratulations on the upgrading of your guitar. Hoping that you are enjoying it. There is nothing like new equipment to re-spark the interest in playing.
I listened to your the recording of Pujol Etude No. 1 on each of the guitars, and you can definitely can hear a difference between the 2 guitars. I thought that the tone from the C12 was much fuller than that from the C7, which is what I would expect from a good classical guitar.
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Here are a few more recordings of pieces that I am still working on:
Fernando Sor Op 60 no 3 –
I learned this piece last year and kept practicing it on a regular basis. This time I did the recording without metronome and kept a fairly steady beat at about 5 bpm higher than the last time. Well, work in progress.
And finally, the first recording of a piece that I am still learning. Fernando Sor Op.60 No. 4 – I like the melody of that short piece that offers a lot of potential for interpretation. This is still work in progress and this will flow much better when I have fully memorised the piece.
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Andre Bernier Both pieces are coming along very well Andre.
Sor Op 60 No 3 has a nice flow to it, so it is coming along very well.
You appear to have No 4 well under your fingers so it shouldn't take to long to get a nice flow going with that one as well.
Hope you are able to provide an update soon.
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