WEEK 2: Dóbry den’ (Good Day)!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Nikita Koshkin challenge! This is the place for the Week 2 Submissions!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
- Get the Scores Here
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
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Last week was not that great for practice, life's challenging sometimes, so to continue after the first three, here's #4... far from perfect, sorry for a few missing notes, the most challenging part was definitely the speed. It still needs love, but others studies are looking for more love too
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Barney thank you... well including missing notes!
I was playing this piece like 10 times in row to validate some musical ideas and memorize it... I failed but the exercise was great! -
Blaise Laflamme I ignore the little misses. More interested in the musical expression and overall effect and delivery. I really enjoyed it!! I find these studies as exercises to cover and reinforce certain technique, so that you can play the repertoire you really like.
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Barney you're right, I'm also looking up first about what I want to do with the musical text and how I'll express that as I'm reading through the piece. They are very well written and effective!
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Blaise Laflamme I was hoping to come back from the weekend and see your video for #4 (my fav of the first four)! I love how you always add something to your interpretations to make it unique. I continue to work on this and #3 but it's a considerable jump in difficulty from 3 to 4 (for me anyway). Looking forward to how far you get in the final week.
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Brett Gilbert thanks Brett... you're right there's a step but somehow it's kind of easier than #3 to make it interesting. I hope to listen to your version of one or both 3 and 4! Well, I hope to find enough time till the end to play at least the following #5 and hopefully #10 since I asked Martin to do it
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Blaise Laflamme beautiful and musical . Fantastic
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Here is my current status on Study #9. Even though the melody line is Andante largo, the movements are quick in certain spots including leaps. The RH harmonics struck with thumb is giving me some difficulty, and I missed a few. Tried with "a" finger which is easier for me, but got scratchy sound on bass strings, so must practice with thumb some more .
This study is particularly difficult for me to play at stated tempo without memorizing it, while also maintaining legato throughout the piece.
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Barney That was lovely, Barney! You made those challenging shifts and unconventional fingerings sound so effortless. Your tone and sound were perfect for that piece. Very impressive!
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Barney as Eric just said... you got the right tone and sound for that piece, very well done!
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Barney how beautiful, Barney! With your sound quality, the upper voice is really singing. Thank you for submitting this.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric! I like the way you played your RH Thumb harmonics so beautifully. If you can play like that at faster tempo, please take a look at my movements and let me know what I'm doing wrong. At my faster speed, it's not consistent.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise!!
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joosje Thank you Joosje! I found it difficult to achieve the singing quality at my slow speed. I think Mr. Koshkin intentionally states a faster tempo in the score to help compensate for the natural sound decay of the Classical guitar. I would need a longer time with this piece to accomplish that.
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Barney I agree, those harmonics sounds great when plucked with the thumb, but like you said, I can't seem to do it in tempo. I will keep practicing it though. I don't think the way you do it sounds bad at all, though. I don't hear any scratchy nail sound. I'd love to be able to play the whole piece like you are.
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Eric Phillips Is your Thumb nail long? My is pretty long and wondering whether that is part of my problem, where it may be "catching on the string and somehow altering the proper position...
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Barney Mine is not too long. From behind, it seems to extend about 1/16" past the top of my thumb.
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Eric Phillips Mine extends about 3/16" at the moment. This could be part of the problem...Thanks!
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- Barney impressive, what a sound and phrasing …
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Emma Thanks Emma!
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Barney Wow, that sounds MASSIVE! Absolutely beautiful! Absolutely golden tone for the upper voices!
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Martin Thanks Martin!!! When you work on this piece, please try to analyze your RH movements for the RH Thumb harmonics. My playing at a medium tempo ( not even the faster stated speed indicated by Nikita), results in inconsistent attack of those thumb harmonics after the preceding natural notes.. Would appreciate your suggestions on this, if possible.
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Barney Will do! With "inconsistent attack", you mean the tone or rhythmically?
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Martin I mean that sometimes I hit the string with Thumb, intending it to be a harmonic with the "i" finger, but instead my "i" finger misses the correct spot, resulting in it sounding the natural open string. When doing it slow, I have time and it's easier to control with no problem; but at the speed I recorded, it is not secure all the time.
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Barney Gotcha, I'll check that passage out and see what could help there! Generally I haven't had too many issues myself, but then again, I've never played any repertoire where I needed to use that technique extensively!
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Martin Thanks Martin!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
