WEEK THREE Updates: Main Thread - Where the magic triumphs!
Hellooo, everyone, and welcome to WEEK THREE - the final Main Thread for this challenge! 
Why is this thread necessary?
Because the Week 1 and Week 2 threads are now both officially monstrously long 
And navigating them can get tricky with the lack of multiple page display.
But Mircea - I hear you say - can we still post in the old thread?
Yes, of course! Feel free to reply to others in the old thread to your heart's content. Just make sure you post any new updates (whether text or video) in this thread instead.
"Oh no, I didn't see this thread, so I posted a new update in the old thread!"
No problem at all! Just tag me (@Mircea) and I'll move your post 
These admin powers I got here are actually pretty cool! It turns out I can move individual replies between threads.
Where are the Week 1 and Week 2 threads?
Find the Week 1 thread here! And Week 2 here!
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Download the music:
- Exercises 1 - 12 (← click)
- Exercises 13 - 24 (← click)
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Etude you worked on:
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
Sample daily update:
- Etude you worked on: No. 1
- One thing you found easy: The polyphony between bass and treble flowed very naturally, I had an easy time playing each line like it belonged to its own voice.
- One thing you found difficult: I had a hard time creating enough variety throughout the repeated measures.
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
-
- Etude I worked on: #22
I love this piece! However I have not played it for a very very long time. I am so happy that the challenge brought it back to me, and I even found my old score in an old collection of guitar scores that I played more than 4 decades ago in my childhood. The teacher always wrote the date of the first attempt on the score, and this shows that it was my 3rd year of guitar playing with a private teacher... It is a shame that I "forgot" this piece for such a long time while practicing and playing tons of other (nice) pieces - Life is definitely too short... Now the piece was kind of new with respect to fingering etc., but I realized that the muscle memory in the fingers was still there, at least a bit.
So here I present my "first new" approach.
This challenge is wonderful! - One thing I found easy: structure
- One thing I found difficult: Playing legato, smoothly, emphasizing the melody without forgetting the accompaniment. And as always: Having good, clear sound. And also almost always required and therefore sometimes a bit challenging: being creative and playing the repetition as an interesting part with some slight variation, for example different colour...
- YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/xpkQC6qcUjo
-
Robert wow, great, this is my favorite piece !
-
Robert Just beautiful. Man your sound is superb you get perfect sustain in your melody notes. Bravo!
-
Robert very beautiful. Congratulations Robert. Phrasing, colour, tempo, I really liked everything. Good that you played the repetition, so we can enjoy it longer.
-
Robert this is one of my favourites, beautiful.... I did this one too and it is not easy to mess up in the recording. Great job!!!!
-
Robert Excellent - I loved the phrasing and the tempo - well played Robert
- Etude I worked on: #22
-
Study 23
OK, the infamous short etude that was driving me crazy, so I decided to procrastinate from doing taxes to work on some recording lol. I have found that for these home office recordings that just using the FaceTime camera and Logic Pro is just fine for the time being until I can get a killer setup like Mircea (one can dream!) I was just practicing and got a version of study 23 that I could live with.
The arpeggios are very difficult because of the triple thumb and double thumb action when the chord is 6 and 5 strings respectively. I am too messy for my taste but I barged through it. Also the F# minor chord is tricky, I think I messed it up and I definitely messed up the A major chord in the 3rd from last bar, that one is a real bear. I had to make two edits where I messed up the rhythm (honestly I forgot the next chord lol). Well it's a very rough draft but I hope it is helpful to others.
Love ya everyone!
-
David Chidsey hey dude, you rocked it ! This piece is really not easy to play
-
David Chidsey David "Arpeggio" Chidsey
Yes, this will definitely be helpful! Now you pointed us (or at least me) to this piece, another one in the pipeline to be discovered (and practiced and played). 5-, 6-, 7-arpeggios, quickly, and - as you mentioned - with the need of good thumb control... looks very challenging. Well done, a very nice "very rough draft" - thanks for sharing this. -
David Chidsey wow, you did a good job there. This one is so hard, and not really melodic, so less attractive to work on. Thank you for giving the idea of how rhythmical and energetic it can sound - with lots of practice that is.
and I’m so jealous of all your great videos. I’m still struggling with my (Windows) laptop & (Android) smartphone, not knowing how to enhance the quality. So I prefer to submit my soundtracks with the Samson meteor. But I’m working on it.
-
joosje I am also on the very low end regarding equipment at the moment. Like you: Windows "office" laptop, Android smartphone, that's all at the moment for these recordings.
-
Robert but you know at least how to get a decent video on screen, without the finger at the end reaching to the <end recording> button.
-
David Chidsey you finally did it! woohoo good job! Is it just me or you sound better in this recording?
-
joosje Oh, I forgot to mention: I use the very old "MovieMaker" for this simple cutting at the beginning and the end and for inserting the title.
-
Robert ha! I love it. I think it will stick!
David “Arpeggio” Chidsey
-
joosje have you looked into Reaper for your windows computer? Martin ran a recording course you can find on Tonebase. It’s a really great free program that works perfectly with windows
-
Blaise Laflamme yeah man! I used iMovie and edit the sound file in logic. Worlds easier. I was definitely over complicating things by trying to get a better video quality. Someday I’d like to make them look like Mircea and Stephanie Jones but that will take some patience. Thanks for the tips!
-
David Chidsey yes,I have reaper and I tried to follow Martins course, but I can’t find my way. Especially syncopating video from phone to reaper. And all these gadgets.. It’s so time consuming I’m working on it but not ready for it now.
-
David Chidsey Awesome! I'm happy you found out a better workflow and now you'll just do better and better over this already huge improvement! I found out LPX to be very intuitive and productive without investing too much time in becoming myself a sound engineer like Martin, who's absolutely awesome. I prefer using my available time on the instrument
-
joosje I totally understand and agree. Too many gadgets too little time. I prefer to practice instead. Easiest solution I’ve found is a usb mic and rreaper. It’s pretty much plug in and hit record and works pretty well. The video aspect is always frustrating and believe me I’m quite impatient with that myself
-
David Chidsey bravo!
-
David Chidsey Not tried this one yet - it looks tricky. Well played David
-
David Chidsey sounds great!
-
-
Different job today.
NERD ALERT
Inspired by Ron:: Etude no 22, Sorry, not yet ready for recording.....
I did some ‘in depth analysis’, that is, try to understand what’s holding me back here. I used the facsimile edition.... have no other.
1) Key A major, 3/4 in triplets. It’s a character piece, ‘tempo di Minuetto’. Sor’s minuets are not very fast. But how to give this piece the simple elegance of a minuetto.... Sor also takes us along the upper strings towards the 12h fret. And plays around with open string and stopped notes.
2) Harmonic structure: I distinguished 7 phrases : [AB] (part 1) - [CD], [E], [FG] (part 2). [AB] move from TonA to DomE.; [CD] wavers between TonA and DomE, finally at the end (bar 31 d#) confirming (Dom) E-key. Immediately in [next part E] he is back to TonA. Interesting part [FG]: [F] cadence with, instead of SubdomD, its 3rd parallel F#7 (Dom to) - Bmajor then E7 (Dom to) - TonA. Followed by basic cadence SubdomD - TonA - DomE7-TonA(7) = Dom for repeat.[partG] = [partF] but in last line SubdomD is altered to the dramatic Dim chord and all is well that ends well......
3) I had to make some changes in my score, where I think there were copying errors. Feel guilty but couldn’t help....bar3: I continue the arpeggio on last beat (as written in the repetition - bar11). Would Sor stop the flow of the piece in the middle of the opening phrase?
bar21: 1st beat g-d-e , should it be g-d-b as in bar 17? OR: should this chord be g-d-e all the time. Note: the 2nd and 3rd quavers in each triplet are (almost?) always going up
bar49 (copyist made some corrections, but not all) a#-b-e, should be a#-c#-f# (as in bar41).
4) Fingerings indicate the intention, but I had to make my own (bar14 e.a.)
- What I found (relatively) easy: chord pattern in A major. Arpeggio simple i-m pattern. Moderate tempo
- What I find difficult: sight reading a tempo, fluency in the melody. Some difficult stretches. A few quick jumps, like in bar 14 from VII-IV: little time for preparation, must stop and lift the bass note just before 3rd beat. And the one in bar 53: coming from V jump to barred Dimchord in I with stretched 4 on g#c
-
joosje wow! Are you a music theory major or what? Lol
-
joosje sorry sorry, guys. It’s 20 not 22. Blame Robert and David for their great performance of 22. No, Vilio, I’m not an expert, but wanted to test (and show
) my knowledge.... and analyzing a piece really helps to learn it.
-
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
