Week 4: "Final Showcase Prep"
WELCOME TO THE MAIN THREAD FOR THE LAST WEEK OF "Practice Plans Challenge"
Dive Into the Practice Plans: Start by exploring our new Practice Plans feature. Use the self-evaluation quiz to identify areas of potential growth.
Screenshot Your Plan: Capture a screenshot of your chosen Practice Plan. This will be your commitment snapshot—a before picture of the journey you're about to embark on.
Share a piece you are currently working on: Alongside your screenshot, let us know how you implement the newly discovered exercises in your practice. Share a piece of your choice that you’re currently working on!
Update your Practice Plan: If you have completed the recommended videos in your Practice Plan, retake the quiz to update your recommendations!
Share Your Journey: Post your video in our community forum under the "Practice Plans Challenge" thread. Include a brief write-up about your experience learning the piece – what challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what this piece means to you.
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Here is a practice session while I'm learning this great piece. It is quite long (12 pages) and challenging for me. Since it is not completely learned at this point, there is page turning, various mistakes, etc. The piece contains a few different characters (ie. Virtuostic, Poetic.. ala Homage to Paganini) and a variety of different techniques (Scales, Arpeggios, Tremolo, big jumps, large chord stretches, repeated notes, to name a few) The practice plan consists of reviewing the piece section by section and isolating difficult passages for more concentrated study.
This is not a piece I'm able to learn to performance level in the few weeks of this challenge. I expect it to take at least a few months to have acceptable execution and speed.
For some reason, when I reached approx. the 10 minute mark, the audio from Reaper DAW stopped working, so I had to re-record "Part 2" in the video below. Does anyone know of something in the Reaper DAW restricting time length as a default setting?
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Barney This is amazing, Barney. what a monumental piece and your control and finesse are awe-inspiring. I have heard this piece before but not in quite a while, It is really good. I have given Castelnueve-Tedesco short shrift, I am afraid. The more I hear his music the more I am impressed. He seems to inhabit Stravinsky's Neo-classical period.
I hope your Reaper DAW didn't die on you - that would indeed be grim.
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Barney Ouf. what a performance Barney. You are perfectly excused for the page turning
. This is such a great piece of music. Thanks a lot for this performance. 
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Jack Stewart Thanks very much Jack!!
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Andre Bernier Thanks Andre!
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Here is Part 2. It continues at the Tremolo section.
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Barney The tremolo section has very interesting harmony. I find it more interesting than Tarrega's Recuerdos (but that is more from Recuerdos suffering the 'Stairway to Heaven' effect).
I am looking forward to hearing your complete performance.
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Barney Just beautiful Barney. I strongly suggest that we all chip in to buy an ipad with foot page change control and an App that will allow more than 10 minutes of recording.
Thanks again I really enjoy listening to your practice.
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Barney This is amazing Barney, you managed very well the entire scope... I hope to hear your version in a few weeks!
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise! Maybe a few months, if things go well...
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BWV 1009 Prelude
This is a better version. There are still rough edges here and there and some interpretive refinements to be made but I feel good about this recording.
I just listened to this again and realized it is very monochromatic. I I'll need to focus on phrasing and dynamics. New strings would also be an improvement.
BWV 996 Bourree
I finally made a complete recording of this piece. I have spent most of the past month working on articulating the bass and working in the trills. Both of those techniques have been really challenging for me and has elevated the difficulty of this piece considerably. I have a long way to go but I feel hopeful.
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Jack Stewart Great Playing, Jack. I am so impressed by the fact you can play these pieces without having to concentrate your attention on the fretboard (left hand). Woah this is so impressive.
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Andre Bernier Thanks Andre. Well, the Bourree rarely moves far from the first position so that certainly helps.
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Jack Stewart Nice work on these Bach pieces! Bravo Jack! I can see the hard work you put into it. It's amazing how listening and watching the recording playbacks helps determine the direction of our practice to correct things we don't hear while playing.
btw, I also need to change my strings but the E string drop to low "D" was so stable I decided not to; However, I agree the crispness, sparkle and better sustain of new strings does make a significant difference overall.
Again, great job and thanks for sharing these two gems with us!
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Jack Stewart Great job on these two Bach pieces. I particularly like the Prelude which seems quite difficult and is coming along so well. Just need to smooth out a couple of rough spots and you will have it.
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale. These pieces have taken much longer than I thought they would. Especially since I used to play them. I believe I am being more meticulous with detail (as hard as that might be to believe) and, in the case of the Bourree,, more ornamented with trills and articulation.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
