WEEK 1: Exploring Carcassi's Etudes
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the composition challenge! This is the place to post updates for the first week.
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
- Get the Scores 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 it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your updates and questions! ↓
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I actually did this reply about 5 hours ago but must have forgotten to hit the red reply button and then logged off and lost everything I wrote.
Been working on 8, 10 and 16 need to improve my tone - video of 8 and 10 below, some hesitations, especially in 10. Also working on 1, 3 and 7 will post further videos on Wednesday or Thursday. Can't make the interactive session as I'm not here on Friday. Need to add a few more pieces for the final week.
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Derek Good job, Derek! I haven't really worked on either of those. Both seem to be a real workout for the left hand.
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Derek So sorry that you can't make it on Friday for the interactive Class, but thank you for your great submissions! I think it's worth to go into No.8 in great detail and really try to highlight the slurred note! You're doing a great job and it's a joy to listen to! I really like No.10, it has such a ... springtime feeling
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Derek well done! Good to see you playing
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. I think they are both great slur exercises
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Martin Thanks Martin. I'll keep practising these along with the other ones I'm working on and hopefully post an improved version sometime. I'm annoyed at having to miss the interactive session but I'll be in Scotland and I don't think I'll have the time to log in.
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Emma Thanks Emma
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Hi Martin and everyone. So I have looked at Etude no. 2 for a day. I really like the beauty of this piece. So I was curious what harmonic Carcassi used. So I have made a harmonic analysis, to gain a deeper understanding of the piece.
My observations:
1. Carcassi uses a lot of I-V-I chord progression. He also uses a lot of I-IV-V-I chord progression in section B several times.
2. He uses secondary dominant, for example, A7 as dominant of Dm. A7 leads to Dm.
3. He uses passing chords also, a bit difficult to spell out the chord.
4. He uses pedal point (note A in the bass, for example) in the beginning of section A and section A'
5. He uses a lot of inversions to make the bass lines connected with each other and more interesting
6. He uses mostly diatonic chords.
A conventional harmonic progression, yet, really beautiful.
Please feel free to give me feedback if you have other observations, other view points, or you find any errors. Thank you for reading! :)
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Khiem Nguyen Wow, that is so cool, thank you for that, this is super interesting! It is basically correct, but in the beginning it's probably an E7/A instead of E11/A because you need to calculate the option (D) from the root chord, not from the pedal tone!
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Khiem Nguyen Thank you so much for this!!!! I was having trouble understanding the harmony in the B section so this came at a perfect time!
Keep up the great work!
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Martin thank you so much for your feedback. I got it now Martin: if the chord uses a pedal point, then we don't take that pedal note into account for naming the chords. Then in the first 4 bars, it is E7/A instead of E11. This helps me tremedously. :)
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Devyn McCrea you are most welcome Devyn; I am so glad my analysis is helpful to you! :)
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Khiem Nguyen Oh, thank you for this! I was just trying to figure out what the chords were myself.
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Elizabeth Uyehara you are welcome. I am glad you find it helpful ^_^
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Khiem Nguyen
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Khiem Nguyen thanks so much for the harmonic analysis Khiem, I found this so helpful and interesting, also learning something new about pedal notes and chords names , cheers
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Deb Covell you are welcome Deb, I am glad you find it helpful. I think making a harmonic analysis of the piece help us to understand the piece better :) Cheers
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Khiem Nguyen
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Deb Covell
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Deb Covell thanks Khiem for your reply, I am at a cross road I seem to be stuck between analysis which is consuming for me , to actually finding the time to practice, I don’t seem to be able to prioritise , just love your analysis and support
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That's lovely to hear. I am also interested in stuyding harmonic. Maybe we can write an email to Martin to suggest more workshop about fundamental harmonic analysis skills :)
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Khiem Nguyen I love to get Emails, haha! You can always reach out to me via [email protected] or use our new "Livestream Ideas" Forum to suggest new ideas!
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Sorry I am late to the party. But I still want to participate!
I did etude 2. One thing I find hard is understanding the harmony in the B section and not speeding up haha. One thing I found easy would be the left hand chords, which helped me focus on the right hand more. Also, probably should have committed to the repeat, so sorry about the awkward ending haha.
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Devyn McCrea really nice left hand fingering Devyn! I also use maybe the same fingering like yours, though my right hand thumb is not as good as yours at the moment for Etude 2. Welcome and please keep on posting! :)
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Devyn McCrea you were not late, don't feel sorry Devyn. The challenge will last for 3 weeks. We have 1.5 weeks left. It is done at your own pace and whenever you feel like. :)
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Devyn McCrea Glad you joined, Devyn! Thanks for sharing this.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
