Week 4: The Flow of Practice: Bringing It Together 
End of the Year Challenge: "Finish Strong!" 
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back on your guitar journey, celebrate your progress, and set the stage for a powerful finish! Whether you've been steadily refining a piece all year, revisiting past favorites, or holding onto that "one day" project, now’s the time to bring it to life. Let’s wrap up this year with a final push, together!
Challenge Theme: Complete, Conquer, and Celebrate!
Goal:
Choose one guitar piece or project that has been on your list this year. This might be a piece you’ve been working on in lessons, something you’ve always wanted to learn but never started, or a performance you’d like to polish. Dedicate the final weeks of the year to bringing it to completion—whatever "finished" means for you!
Challenge Options:
Complete a Piece: If you’ve been working on a piece throughout the year, let’s aim to bring it to the finish line. Focus on refining tricky sections, memorizing it, or even recording it as a performance!
Start & Finish a New Piece: Is there a piece that’s been sitting on your "someday" list? Dive in! Start fresh, put in dedicated practice time, and see how far you can get by the end of the year.
Polish for Performance: Got a piece you can already play but want to perfect? Use this time to iron out the details and maybe even perform it for friends, family, or the tonebase community!
Challenge Guidelines:
Set Your Goals: Decide on the piece or project and set a few concrete goals (e.g., "play smoothly at tempo," "record a full video," or "memorize all sections").
Share Your Journey: Post your progress, questions, and reflections with the community! Let us know what you're working on, why you chose it, and any hurdles you’re overcoming.
Celebrate the Wins: At the end of the challenge, share your "finished" version! Whether it’s a recording, a progress update, or simply sharing your reflections, let’s celebrate together.
Dates:
This challenge runs from now until December 30th. Finish the year with a sense of accomplishment and the motivation to take on new pieces in the coming year!
Why Join?
This isn’t just about completing a piece; it’s about proving to yourself what you can achieve with focus and support. Join us for a fun, collaborative way to end the year on a high note.
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Schumann Winterzeit II op. 68.39 update somewhat better
This is a better recording, though complete with blunders and dogs. The second section is still tricky but at least the repeats are generally pretty clean. One of my dogs barked towards the end and it took me a bit to recover. I should be able to get a good recording soon and a recording with both Winterzeit I & II.
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Jack Stewart Nice done, Jack. Already sounds like finished work.
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Schumann Winterzeit I & II op. 68.38-39
I finally managed a decent recording of both Winterzeit I & II in a single take (no small feat for me!) This still needs refinement but it is mostly there. I need to work on my tone control and phrasing, especially the transitions. I have a couple of places that still present challenges but are manageable.
Eric had requested a bit more information on these pieces. I will summarize my response to him here. These pieces are towards the end of Schumann's 'Album fur die Jugend', which is a graded collection of pieces for beginners and / or young pianists. I have recently developed an appreciation for Schumann's work, at least his shorter character pieces. I still have less interest in the longer works of most Romantic composers. I have a collection of Schumann transcriptions, 'Das Schumann Buch fur Gitarre' (I also have 2 books of Bach in the same series). I should note that these are available but google them - they are much cheaper from the UK, though shipping might make up the difference.
These pieces were included in the Schumann Book, but the Winterzeit II had several errors/ alterations that lost some of the wonderful chromaticism and harmonies of the original. I decided to make my own transcriptions of both pieces. My Winterzeit I transcription did not differ in any meaningful way from the one in the book but I did have several different alterations for the Winterzeit II.
Note: this is more a rambling extension rather than a summary - sorry.
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Jack Stewart This is just amazing, Jack! It is such an effective transcription. Your playing is quite impressive as well. I don't know what your written score looks like, but I honestly think that is something you could potentially sell.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. I think these pieces work very nicely on guitar. I hadn't listened to much Schumann before I came across these pieces. I think I'll look into more works from this opus.
It has taken me a bit to get to be able to play these. I had the first piece roughed out last challenge but the second piece is considerably more challenging - certainly for me. I have a bad habit of letting my right hand take care of itself. Frequently that works ok, but when I run into problems it is real difficult for me to concentrate on the right hand. I used to be lazy - now I'm old.
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Jack Stewart that’s so beautiful, Jack. I just love this music. So dramatic and sweet at the same time. It works really well on guitar. Well played , good phrasing. Maybe add some more colour variation, (this is the only thing we guitarist have as an asset compared to pianists)
this 2nd piece must be quite challenging to learn, wonderful transcription.
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joosje Thanks Joosje. Both pieces, combined, create quite a musical journey. I also think they work very well on guitar, however, I am really surprised that I haven't heard any recordings of these pieces on guitar.
I'll try to work on my color palette, though my command of these works, at this point, is still pretty tenuous.
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Jack Stewart HeyJack, excellent transcriptions and performance. Both pieces work well on the guitar per your transcriptions and you played them so well. What a great accomplishment to end the year before you depart on your trip. I returned on Friday after two months of travel and nice to be back to my guitar, although not so nice to come back to the new reality post the election. In any case, I am working on a new Carlevaro piece but not sure i can work it up in time to post it for this challege, but will try. If i don't see you before you leave, have a great trip.
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale. I think I will have some revisions to the transcription though they will be fairly subtle. I still hope to get a better recording before I leave for VN (in 4 days!).
I played for the South Bay Guitar Society (SBGS) virtual open mic last night. I have been really focussed on trying to get a solid grip on playing these pieces and the BWV 1009 prelude though I only performed the Schumann pieces. It was not nearly as clean as these recordings. Oh well, performance has never been my strong suit.
I am not sure if I will have much time to get together before I leave. I still have a lot of loose ends to deal with.
Glad you and Suzanne made it back safe from your (2 month!) to Portugal and Spain.
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Regondi Etude 1 (Dec 6)
Another update. Finally playing with no score in front of me.
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Eric Phillips Wow! That is really beautiful, Eric. Your phrasing and articulations are amazing. You really bring this piece alive. You were always playing this piece really well, but this seems to be a whole new level. There seems to be a few rough edges in the coda, but overall this a great job. I can't wait to hear your next posting.
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Eric Phillips I agree with Jack Stewart , very beautiful rendition. You made a great progress on the piece in such short time. It’s clear that you have a strong relationship with this music. Great job! I think you can now move the tempo up a little bit, you control the technique. If I may add a little suggestion: in the first part ( and reoccurring measures) I hear you make an accent on the third beat and a little pause before the next group of sixteenth notes (dividing the 4/4 measure in two 2/4) In my idea the whole bar would sound more flowing,, played in one breath. But this is a question of interpretation, maybe you have a different view. Would be nice to exchange views….
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Jack Stewart joosje Thank you both. I am getting a bit more comfortable with the piece, but some sections still sound problematic to me when I listen back.
Joosje, if I understand you correctly, you are suggesting reducing the accent on beat three of each measure. That makes sense. I am writing this away from my guitar, but the next time I can, I will give that a try. As for increasing the tempo, I’ll see what I can do, but I am not too confident in my ability to do so.
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Eric Phillips This etude has been growing on me after listening to your beautiful rendition. This will be in my 'to play in the future' wishlist. Those melodies around the 3:10 min mark is so tender and the slurs towards the end, wow. Thanks for posting.
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Eric Phillips I never listened Regondi before, its a really beatifull piece and very well played with dynamics and articularion.....congratullations Eric
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hello to all,
I´ve been working on the Fernando Sor´s Andante Largo, ( Im working on it for some months already ). The piece is more dificult and longuer than I expected, the tipical Fernando Sor composition with clear three layers, dificult to enhance. The 6th string is tuned to D, and likewise other pices it has first a D mayor part, D minor and repetition of D mayor.....I hope you like it .....I´ll try to upload another piece before end of the year. Greetings
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JUAN ALONSO This is wonderful, Juan! You have such a beautiful tone and fluid phrasing, and that only comes with many, many hours of practice. This might be my all-time favorite piece by Sor, and you really presented beautifully here.
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JUAN ALONSO You have improved tremendously since you previous posting. I really like the d minor section, especially starting around 3:00. This is a great piece and you are doing a great job with it.
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JUAN ALONSO Very nicely played, Juan. It's a long piece and you've played through it very beautifully. Congratulations.
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JUAN ALONSO well done Juan. Beautiful performance! Perfect tempo. It’s sounding secure and relaxed at the same time. And why not make a little colour change in the minor part, to make it sound darker…
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric....especially comming form you , as you posted a lot of stuff frm Sor...thanks
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joosje Many thanks Joosje, I take note for improvement....:-)
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Jack Stewart thanks so much Jack
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary thanks Nijwm
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JUAN ALONSO it’s more about exploring your colour palette. You have such a beautiful tone!
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