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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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.
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Eric Phillips WOW, wonderful, Eric. You did great. I love the tone and timing. So now we will proceed with the harmonics part. It’s actually quite fun working on them. Did you watch Marina’s livestream how she prepares the thumb attack for these harmonics, gradually changing the angle of finger i. It helps a lot. But still not easy….
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joosje I could not attend the livestream, and since it was interactive it was not recorded. I’ll just have to watch how you do it!
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Eric Phillips Fantastic. You're doing a great job with all of these studies
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Eric Phillips wonderful!!! And it is very hard… congratulations, excellent
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Emma Thank you, Emma!
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Eric Phillips sounds great Eric! you definitely have affinities with this study, can't wait to hear your «final» version
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise!
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Hello everybody! I am preparing No 4, and 5. I was planning to record No 4 and always failing in the same spot, that is bar 7 and 8. So in a very…very… slow reaction I decided to change the fingerings so… I don’t think I am ready to record. It is a beautiful study and I am with the metronome on at all times and trying to think horithontally! (So descriptive, thank you Marina!)
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Emma Keep us updated!!! What's your exact problem in these bars, maybe we can help?
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Martin thank you so so much!
Study no 4 In bar 7 just after the harmonics. Keep Koshkin’s fingers? I would play A with 1 but then the change to B in the third string with the same 1 finger makes me fail when I speed up. Or I came out with the idea of playing A with 2 and maintain it for the next chord so 1 is free to play the B beautifully, but in this case I would be playing the A in bar 8 with 2 and the handy slide to G with 3 can not happen. This is making me waste some time, and now I keep using both ways with less success that I hoped…. What would you do?In study 4 I remember you thought of some alternative fingerings for bar 8 in the life class with Marina. I could not get them well and I am finding problems here. Joosje uses Koshkin fingerings but I still have to come around them.
thank you!!!
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Emma In bar 7 I play the A on third beat with 3 and then F# with 4, it gives me a better shape for the patterns and articulations, as bar 7 and 8 are based on the same idea.
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Blaise Laflamme yes thank you that is clear. You did a fantastic job in this study
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Emma Blaise Laflamme Here's my idea on these bars! Spoiler Alert: I'd keep the fingering of Koshkin and apply a guiding finger there!
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Martin for the harmonics passage I opted for finger 3 since 4 is already used for the last note before, then you can lift 3 while you're playing 4, then play the harmonics, then I still use 3 for the A, using the open string as a bridge... that was easier and more effective for me.
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Martin thank you so so much! This video has totally changed the way I do it! I understood what I was doing wrong. I was like you, trying to keep finger 2 as guiding finger but I was not relaxing it, so the change to the chord was very ugly. But seeing this, and how the guide finger is not pressed but relaxed to allow a neat movement was an eureka moment. Thank you!!! I hope you understand what I mean, writing about fingerings in a clear way is difficult!!! Now I am drilling that bar with the metronome and I am progressing quite quickly. Thank you
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Blaise Laflamme Yeah, usually I try to avoid to use the 4th twice in a row, but since it's a harmonic I can move my hand quickly enough and get to the 12th fret in time since I don't need to press it!
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Emma Fantastic, glad it helped! Absolutely true that writing about fingerings is sometimes hard, that was why I started to do these commented videos in the first place
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This one is for Eric, to share what I learned from Marina: (but didn’t practice enough)
My first try of last page of #9. The part with the harmonics., (mm20-23). I tried to do as Marina suggested. While playing the open strings (5) and (4), your RHand is already moving towards fret XII and fingers i and p are placed almost horizontally, so you can damp the string with i in XII and pluck the string with p at about 1 inch from i. Am I correct, Martin?
the following line with harmonics upper voice (24-27) is also not quite as easy as it looks. I started playing the voices separately until both were secure, but together it’s still tricky…
I’ll have to give it some more time….
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joosje This was so incredibly kind of you, Joosje! Thank you so much! I had tried a couple ways to play the harmonics in measures 20-23, but not like that, which makes a lot of sense. I also like the tambor chord at the idea - great idea!
Here's a video with me playing measures 19 to the end. It's much slower and not nearly as beautiful as yours. Let me know what needs correcting or improving.
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Eric Phillips that’s superb, Eric. Your managed to make those harmonics, you don’t seem to have any problem there. They are clearer and more secure than mine. I hesitate a bit about your triplets, also in the first part. Btw, the tambora was not my idea, but Koshkin’s suggestion in he introduction to the pieces.
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joosje Thanks, Joosje. I have never been able to get the feel of quarter note triplets, especially when there are regular quarter notes in the other voice. It always feels like I'm just playing random note values.
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joosje Fantastic! Exactly! The suggestion to play those harmonics with the thumb came from one of the tonebase members, Marina herself plays those with the a finger and keeps her nail very parallel to the string to avoid scratchy sounds! She does have overall shorter nails and can apply more flesh to the touch!
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Eric Phillips Beautiful!!! Fantastic interpretation of the ending! I'll start tomorrow with #9 (and #5), had a free Sunday full of happy tax declaration making
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Martin Thanks, Martin! I look forward to hearing you play both of those (since they are my two favorites and since you are such an outstanding musician). I must say, it’s not often that I see the words “happy” and “tax” right next to each other!
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Eric Phillips As usual, your execution is spot on. It is very even and lyrical and you played the tricky "3 over 2" rhythm passages perfectly. In addition, a superb job on the RH Thumb harmonics (way better than me..). Well done Sir!!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
