Week 1: Going North! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Landslög Challenge
Share your progress updates here and help each other out by commenting on other member's submissions!
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Worked on no. I and II again today.
With no I., I'm pretty close to having it down, but one thing I had a hard time with was dynamics, knowing how to bring it to the appropriate level while also maintaining good tone. One thing I found easy with this piece was the memorization of it.
On II. I found switching chords smoothly a bit of a challenge, not really looking at dynamics for it just yet. One thing I found easy (I'm not sure if this counts) was feeling motivated and drawn to working on this piece.
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To all so far: great, great stuff (videos, audios, comments/discussions). I hope that I will be able to start this weekend with the first one(s).
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Robert great to know you'll start working on them!
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This is such a great opportunity. Like Eric, I just missed the first Landslog challenge, so I will participate in this one. Wonderful music and, indeed quite a challenge, the last 4 especially. Btw, number eleven is ranked TB level 10!
I had a first look at the scores, and I’m not sure I’ll have much time, since I have to prepare a little program for an audition this spring. So, I will have to choose a few landscapes, watch Gulli’s courses, practice and visit Iceland
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joosje me too I missed the first edition of this challenge, I hope to see at least one of them from you. Oh, you're auditioning for a position?
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Landslog X
Of numbers 7-11, I think this may be the only one I have any chance of being able to play. The rest are just beyond my technique level.
This piece is nothing but harmonics, and my biggest struggle was left-hand finger placement. To make the notes sound good, the left hand has to be very precise (especially for the ones on the 9th fret). It would be best for me to have the piece memorized, so I could look at my left hand the entire time and not have to look at the score. Memorization is not my best skill, however, and I'd need a lot more time to get this one down. As a result, some of the notes don't ring out well or are too percussive.
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Eric Phillips great take on this one Eric, I'm sure within a few days you'll get it memorized and rendered with incredible fluidity, knowing what you can do. I'm also sure you can take any of them out of the 7-11 landslogs and render it by the end of the challenge, and #9 could be similar to #6 while being a bit more challenging. Amazing what you've done in so short amount of time!!
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Eric Phillips Sounding very solid already! Touching the soul with this one.
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Eric Phillips Bravo, that’s a great performance for a first recording after so little time of practice. Most of the harmonics are clear enough to enable following the flow of the piece. Looking forward to your follow up on this one.
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Eric Phillips It is well done. I am amazed by your ability to learn these pieces.
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Eric Phillips I'm looking forward to X, based on your fine recording of it! Getting them all to ring like you do will take me a lot of practice!
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Eric Phillips Bravo so far Eric! I'm impressed, especially how you're able to get harmonics out of the 9th fret! I can't seem to get those.
I didn't think of it until you mentioned it, but you make a good point about memorizing the piece so you can look at your finger placement.
It's interesting that he has very little written in to this piece in regards to dynamics. With so many repeated notes I wonder if that's maybe what this piece needs more of?
I also notice there's no indication as to the fingering to use. I wonder if using an a-m-i pattern for repeated eighth notes - like those in the first 7 measures - would make sense.
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Here is my Landslag-I reading with a few minor clams. I feel this piece or all these pieces really need to be memorized so you can really focus on the visual aspect of the beautiful Icelandic country side Gulli evokes with each of these pieces. Hope I did it justice. Also played with Reaper video and added a bit of reverb to evoke more depth. I'll tackle II next.
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Michael Shirk Really beautiful, Michael! Great dynamics!
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Michael Shirk Very nice playing Michael. Such a pretty piece and you play it very well.
You might take a look at your recording and processing workflow though since I was hearing a really high-pitched whine throughout. I checked a couple of different devices and heard it on both. It's so high my dogs heard it first and started freaking out, lol.
Really nice performance though. Congrats and thanks for sharing.
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Steve Price Really, well thats ugly. Uhm maybe I should put it through my headphones and see if I can hear it. Thanks
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Michael Shirk nice work Michael! You have a good handle on this one.
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Michael Shirk Well done Michael! About the high frequencies, it's possible the reverb you added in Reaper amplified this artifact in your room, try without the reverb next time, or add less.
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Michael Shirk Very nice Michael. It sounded very good and the small reverb fits nicely with the atmosphere of the piece. Thanks for sharing
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Michael Shirk Very enjoyable to listen to you play! Thanks for the suggestion to memorize. I will work on that so I can focus better on the music. I should be doing simultaneous memorizing while practicing a new piece all the time.
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Michael Shirk great interpretation. Maybe slightly up tempo but sounds great. Thank you for sharing.
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Michael Shirk Great, Michael! Beautiful dynamics and great interpretation. Like you I think that playing by heart is a great key to focusing on the interpretation. Thank you for sharing!
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Okay, is it Landslög or Landslag? I've seen it both ways.
In any case, don't let the simplicity fool you! I'm finding these pieces are very exposed, and so different from anything I've done before. For those reasons alone I'm finding even the first couple of pieces to be very challenging. Getting the dynamics right, which seems to be such a huge component of this music, is probably the biggest challenge for me.
Here is #1. You'll probably hear my daughters in the background, even though I told them I was recording.
This was my first take, and they all went down hill from there.
One thing I find challenging in general, and with this piece it was measures 15 to the end, is that my i and m fingers sound really bad on the 4th, 5th and 6th strings. I have a really hard time not getting a scratching sound, so in this case I played strings 6 and 5 with my thumb.
And, yes, those are new lights hanging up on my wall. They look pink, but they're actually purple and give the room a really cool vibe when I don't have all these studio lights shining in my face!
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Steve Pederson great work Steve! You're right about this one, getting the right voicing and keeping the right sound is probably part of what makes it not that easy.
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Steve Pederson BTW I'm sure the lights are pink!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
