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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Study 2
I watched the new video lesson on this etude by Tengyue Zhang, and I loved it so much that I just had to give it a go. I've played it before many moons ago, but the lesson made me want to really work on it and make it fresh and new.
In the lesson, Tengyue suggested playing it very slowly for an entire week, so that is just what I will be doing. The tempo in the video is VERY slow (if you don't listen to the whole thing, that's fine
). I also decided to use the right hand pattern p-i-m-a-m-a-m-a in order to work on my m-a independence. What was easy: It's so beautiful and expressive that it is a joy to practice.
What was difficult: Getting consistency of tone between the m and a fingers. It was also challenging to keep the tempo so slow (I did not want to use a metronome).
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Eric Phillips Totally forgot to adress that, so sorry, I will post a video which talks about that topic!
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Eric Phillips very subtle, Eric! really liked it. Perhaps I'll do this one next
I'd like to train those m-a-m-a strokes as well 
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love your work and progress Eric, really inspiring, thankyou, I am a bit reluctant to join the challenge, as not sure how to record and make the sound acceptable. i will continue to practice the pieces though and hope i can improve, cheers Deb Covell Newcastle Australia.
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Deb Covell Thanks for listening, Deb. I used to make all my videos just with my phone, which worked fine. Now I use my laptop, but with a USB microphone that I picked up for about $30 (U.S. dollars), since the microphone in my laptop is so poor. Some people only make audio recordings with a phone, which is fine. Some people use much more sophisticated recording equipment, which is wonderful, but I'd rather not invest that kind of money (or time) right now. I say just start by using whatever is easiest for you. And of course, if you prefer simply to post about your progress without a recording, that's great too. What matters most is you practicing the pieces and finding joy in the music.
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Deb Covell Hey Deb! You can always join the challenge no matter if you decide to share via text, audio or video!
But as Eric Phillips said, recording yourself with a smartphone is more than enough for that challenge, you can then upload the video as an unlisted video on YouTube or directly share the file here (if it‘s smaller then 50mb) 
Let us know if you need help with the upload process! -
Eric Phillips thanks Eric will give it a go recordingAm currently practicing Etude 1 & 2 thanks for your support
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Deb Covell That’s great! I look forward to hearing from you!
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Hi everyone, so here is my first video about Etude no. 7. I first learned it last year and I started to rehearse it a few days ago.
Things I find easy: sight reading
Things I found difficult: almost everything else. Also memory slip, because it is a longer piece among the etudes. And secondly, my left hand fingering's decision slightly changes when a section repeated, it can confuse me. I looked rather relax in the video but actually inside, I was nervous and stressed out of worrying to play a wrong note. :D
I got one note wrong in this video. It is in measure 24th when that section is repeated close to the end of the piece. The highlighted E-note I played D due to nervousness. I will polish the piece again and hope to not hit a wrong note in the future retakes. Thank you for watching :)
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Khiem Nguyen Wow! This is incredible, Khiem! I did not notice the incorrect note at all. All I noticed was beautiful music and a player who looks strong and confident. Good work!
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Eric Phillips that is really nice of you Eric. Thank you for encouraging me! :)
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Khiem Nguyen nice and clear sound, good job!
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Gokce Turkmendag thank you Gokce! :)
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Khiem Nguyen WOW! So powerful!!! What a strong entrance into the challenge, I loved it! I think some passages in this etude can benefit a lot from planting p-i-a for some of the patterns and you should take a look at toe position change of your hand for the last apoyando note in a given section! I would only do a drastic shift like that if I would want to cut the resonances of the lover strings with the back of my thumb, in that case though I'd probably do that with my left hand!
Here's a video for you, hopefully that gives you some more ideas! -
Khiem Nguyen Wow what a speed!!! I especially like how the melody of the thumb is enhanced and warm. Congratulations on your interpretation!!!
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Martin Hi Martin, I am so thankful to you for making a feedback video for my performance. :) I watched it over and over again and I got really a lot of good tips. I will try to apply the planting of p-i-a in measure 2 to cut the resonance of the open high E string. And I will try to eliminate the occasional buzz. :) The apoyando at the end of measure 8, I was using it to cut the vibration of the open string A(5th string) with the back of my thumb. You are right, at lower speed I find it okay, but at the performance speed, it is a bit risky to miss it with the big right hand shift. I really like the idea of cutting the bass string resonance with the left hand, and use finger 3 to fret the A in 1st string, so that finger 1 and 2 can mute the bass strings. I will definitely try it out and hope to submit another video after practicing those ideas soon :)
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Emma thank you a lot Emma! :)
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Khiem Nguyen Bravo!!! I have prepared that too! you master it much better!
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Emma thank you a lot Emma! I have also watched your etude no. 7; it is indeed a good job. Please see my comments under your video :)
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Khiem Nguyen Nice one, Khiem! Really secure playing
nice clear tone, and really liked how you were standing out the melodies throughout the piece! -
Daniel Beltrán thank you a lot Daniel! Let us keep on the good work :)
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Great to see a Carcassi challenge underway! I worked through a few of these when I got the scores a couple of years ago. This challenge is prompting me to jump back in and, like @eric, I’m planning to dig out No. 14
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Mark That’s great, Mark! Like me, you seem to be one who looks at a big cake and says, “I’ll take the middle piece.”
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Eric Phillips ha, yes & I’m thinking No.14 would make a good daily warm up piece. I started Carcassi a couple of years ago and did 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7 before being drawn back to my main pieces, so I’m looking forward to getting back to it (with Tonebase motivation!)
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Mark Awesome, those etudes offer a vast variety of possible topics to work on, glad to see you join the Challenge, we look forward to your updates!
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Hi everyone, so here is my second take of Etude 7 after about 1 hour of practicing with dotted rythm at 105bpm. I heard about this method but never really tried it out until a few hours ago, I gave it a try and practice using dotted rythm. I can see it seems to work on me quite well. At least it is a way for me to achieve control at higher speed without feeling tense in my hands. :)
