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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I made some recordings yesterday evening. On our terrace. You can hear some street noise at the background. The light is funny, I could barely read the score or follow my fingers….
I gave #9 a first try, for now only the first part., though
the position changes are so difficult to control and therefore it’s hard to keep the melody line
im working on the part with harmonics.. it’s getting there slowly. I’ll try to record tomorrow.
продолжается (to be continued)
https://youtu.be/HAVi7xQsPpo-
joosje beautiful!!!!
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joosje Barney
I attempted to made a video that got waaaaay more confusing than intended! I will start to work on this study today and hopefully I gain more insights myself! -
Martin thank you so much, Martin. That was useful , maybe more than you seem to think. I still feel some controversy, though. I agree it should be not too mathematical, but definitely a different texture, so not just sixteenths. It would’ve been easy for maestro Koshkin to notate it in punctuated quavers. Here, especially at this tempo, it’s really tricky to articulate the difference between the 3 and 2 and still keep the pace of the 4/4.
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Martin Thank you Martin! As usual, you are able to simplify some complex issues. In my opinion, I think your illustration using the two rows (top and bottom voices) counting in Eighths (for that measure) and aligning both voices accordingly, is the easiest way to understand it.
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Martin Hey Martin, Have you posted your complete fingerings for #10 yet? I'm not sure where to look for it... Thanks!!
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Barney Ups, will do now as a seperate post in the Week 3 thread!
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I also did #5., yesterday. Such beautiful melodic and harmonic material.
It’s a bit like #7 regarding the dialogue between upper and bass voices.
working up the tension towards the highest notes in part 1 and and at the reprise is not so easy because of the uncommon finger positions, but is very well organized, musically.. I have to work on this one more, to give it its full value. It’s surely one of my favorites.-
joosje I've enjoyed all of your recent videos. You always have such a wonderful tone and expressiveness to your playing. The quality of the recordings is excellent as well.
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joosje You play this so beautifully , Joosje! It feels very relaxed. I really enjoy listening to someone else play it, because I really hear it more musically, instead of just hearing all of my technical shortcomings. It is just so much more enjoyable listening to you!
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joosje wonderful. You have a beatiful tone Joosje
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joosje
did you use Marina's fingering for bars 37-38 with that jumping index instead of the full barre? -
Martin yes I did, but I chose that solution before I heard her do that….
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joosje beautiful!!!!! So so beautiful and relaxed… how difficult is that. I am also preparing this one and can not find my way around fingerings in bar 8 . Marina explained but I could not get it. Can you or Eric Phillips or Blaise Laflamme help please :) or any who has studied this one thank you!!!!
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joosje so well played! sorry I was out of the challenge for most of the past week Emma my version is coming but as far as I can see I'm not doing like others here, my focus is more about the top line legato than the moving bass line, if it can help you somehow.
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Emma Blaise Laflamme hi Emma. Yes, it’s a difficult move in bar 8. You can use 4th finger on the d (3) so 3rd finger can stay on a#(1), which can then ring longer, helping the upper voice melody to be connected. But then the hand position is uncomfortable for the next b (1), so I chose to follow Koshkin’s fingering. It’s important, as Blaise says, to hear the upper voice melody first. Play the voices separately so you can really hear them, that helps to control the sound. Vibrato on the first a# helps. I have the problem in study 9, where the high e on string 1 should sound for 3 1/2 beats. It will never ring that long, so you have to suggest a longer sonority. . With vibrato and extra weight of the finger playing that note. Easier said than done…
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joosje thank you so much!
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I had a bit of an issue recently and I'm supposed to be taking things easy for a few weeks so not done as much as I would have liked on these pieces (plus I'm still working on the Carcassi pieces etc). Also I've not watched as many of your wonderful performances as I would have liked. I've been working on 1,2 & 4, concentrating mainly on 4. Hopefully post a video in the next few days.
Thing I found easy: discovering that number 4 is on the page after the last page of number 3 :-)
Thing I found difficult: Bar number 7 the transition from the harmonics to the A (natural) following on to bar 8. Bar 9 to 18 aren't too bad but then a bit of a stretch to the d# and g# in bar 19.
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Derek Hey Derek, I hope you're doing okay. That was the trickiest part of number 4 for me as well, and I botched it a bit on my recording. I hope to be able to hear you play it soon!
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Derek Fantastic, take it easy and keep us updated, happy that you share your progress with these intriguing studies!
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Derek looking forward to hear your version soon. I know it’s quite hard to get this transition in bar 7/8 smooth and fluent. You’ll get there…These studies are worth the effort.
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Eric Phillips thank you Eric. It's coming along now so hopefully the rest of the piece will follow.
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joosje thanks for your kind words Joosje
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Martin thanks Martin
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Derek you're definitely right, this is the more challenging bar, except getting up to speed.
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Study 9
Here is my first stab at this incredibly beautiful piece of music (my favorite of them all). I am only playing up to measure 20 here. I'm still wondering if this is perhaps beyond me right now, but for now, I will keep plugging away, hoping that it starts resembling music at some point.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
