Week 5: Mastery in the Making
Get the Scores for the Carcassi Etudes op.60 Challenge
HOW TO BEGIN 
Ready to join the "Carcassi Etudes op.60 Challenge"? Here’s your starting line:
- Pick Your Etude: Dive into the evocative world of Carcassi by selecting an etude from op.60. Whether it's a piece that tests your technical limits or one that you've longed to perfect, the choice is yours.
- Commit to Practice: Embark on a disciplined practice routine, aiming for consistency. Share your journey with at least two video updates each week on our platform. This commitment will not only enhance your skills but also enable us to experience your progress, fostering a supportive atmosphere in our tonebase community.
- Share Your Practice: Submit a recording that you feel best captures your connection with Carcassi's music. This will inspire and contribute to a rich collection of performances for our community to enjoy and learn from.
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This is week 5? I was on vacation. Is it too late to join the challenge? I’ve been working on 25. Right now trying to increase the tempo from 75 to 80 but it’s tricky.
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Debbie it’s never too late for your submission! 25 is definitely a great choice. But a difficult one. Go for it.
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Already week 5. It’s over before you know. With a busy weekend ahead I tried today to record some (modest) progress. First Etudes 12 and 16, I posted in the previous weeks. I experimented with tempos and dynamic, and this is a result. For 12 I’m not yet fully convinced of the tempo: following my idea of dynamics I slow down and it’s maybe not clear what my tempo really is. But is very rewarding to work on these beautiful pieces
1) #12
2) #16
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joosje Both very nicely performed, Joosje! Your use of dynamics is particularly effective, as is the tasteful rubato. I like your choice of tempi, even if other possibilities exist - what matters is that you reveal for the listener what is essential in the music. My one 'quibble' concerns your decision to employ a slightly harsher tone at the start of the repeat of the 'B' section of etude 16 (1:35). To my ear, this presents a small distraction, something that disturbs the quiet reverie of the moment. I realize this is a matter of personal taste, but my feeling is the music doesn't need this here.
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joosje Beautiful, Joosje. Your phrasing, dynamics and use of rubato are wonderful at bringing these pieces of music alive. I’ve always considered Carcassi as rather mundane but you have forced me to reconsider that opinion. Thank you for these beautiful and musically revealing performances.
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joosje The way you’re playing study 16 is beautiful and very musical to my ears. The separation between the melody and accompanying notes is breathtaking. The way the melody sang with such feeling, and the timing of each note leaves me speechless. Bravo.
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Andre Bernier Steve Price Jim King Jack Stewart don Carlo Martins Brent Adams thank you all for listening and for your kind words. These TB challenges provide such a great opportunity to get some feed back on our playing, sometimes new ideas for interpretation. I’m always happy with your observations such as David Krupka ‘s (about metallic sound in repeat). This kind of feed back is a great help to be more aware of habits, automatic pilot, tempo instability, tempo choice etc.
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joosje Both very nice performances, You bring out very appealing tone colours.
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Neil Macmillan thank you Neil!
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And this is my work on Etude no. 22. It is a tricky one. It’s better to memorize this, because it demands a light and flowing tempo. I chose this moderate tempo as it is more or less what I can handle at this stage.
What was difficult :-keeping the flow and control in the broken chords with mix of arpeggio, slurs and position changes
-articulate the repeated motives between upper and lower voice (I exaggerate the accented beats, I think)What is easy:
- once analysed and understood the structure, harmonies and modulations it feels quite natural for the hands to find their place. Charming piece
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joosje The 3 pieces are played beautifully. Bravo
. My preference would go with the no. 16. This is so relaxing listen you playing it. -
joosje These are gorgeous. All really well played but I love the rise and fall of 12. You always have such a great sense timing and dynamics and I think it really came out.
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joosje All 3 pieces are beautiful. I enjoyed listening to all 3 of them. Thanks.
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joosje Beautifully played Josie. You have a great feel for this music and your control of phrasing and dynamics is effective, as always. I look forward to your progress on this.
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joosje they are all so beautifully played. Bravo!
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joosje Bravo!!! I am not familiar with this study, but it is beautifully played!
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joosje The 3 pieces you submitted are all played beautifully. It's such a pleasure watching and listening to your performances. Your left hand movements are so naturally relaxed and graceful with wonderful choreography. Wonderful tone and Legato! Bravo!!
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joosje This one ripples along very nicely with energetic leaping all over the place and you convey that well. Excellent sound.
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Andre Bernier Steve Price Jim King Jack Stewart don Neil Macmillan Barney thank you for listening and all your kind words. It’s such a pleasure sharing together these iconic pieces.
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Here is an update to my previous post playing Carcassi’s Allegretto in C from his Méthode complète pour la guitare, Opus 59. I feel that this video is representative of my current abilities in playing this piece. I plan to continue working on this piece to get the tempo closer to that expected for allegretto. Enjoy.
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Jim King very impressive progress on this piece., Jim. It’s really flowing now and nice and rhythmical all the way. Your phrasing is clear, too. Good job!
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Jim King Great job, Jim. I completely agree with Josie, your control is much more relaxed and your phrasing is very good. I would suggest at this point to focus on making the opening phrase more legato. Great work!
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Jim King Nice, Jim. Well played. I wasn't familiar with op 59, but there are some really nice pieces in there.
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Jim King Great progress Jim. It is flowing nicely. Bravo
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joosje Jack Stewart Steve Price Andre Bernier Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I have been working on getting used to playing to the camera for the last couple of months and perhaps that is finally helping.
Also, I agree with you Jack about needing to play legato during the opening phrase. I still find it difficult to play legato when the notes are on the same string. I need to do some focused practice on that aspect.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
