WEEK 2: Conquering Carcassi's Etudes
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Carcassi Etudes op.60 challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream to get an overview over the etudes!
- Get the Scores here! (<- click)
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
↓ Reply below with your assignments and questions! ↓
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Hello guys, hope you're doing great. Here's a quick update on Etude no. 1 after 4 days of pratice. I tried to phrase better the melodic lines as TY says, as well as having a more precise rythm than last week.
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Daniel Beltrán Enjoyed watching this, very fluid and you made it look easy. I started with #1 but beyond my ability for now so nice to see it played so well. I like the fingerings you used in the 2nd half to minimize awkward shifts.
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Daniel Beltrán Good job, that's a very nice tempo! I think the bars at 0:33 - 0:37 can be a little bit more fluid, those melodic snippets should sound bigger and more elegant than they actually are!
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Study 12 slow and expressive.
When I was working on Study 2 and 14, I found it helpful to play them slowly and expressively so I could be attentive to details and have a very clear sense of phrasing and shaping. I figured this approach would be helpful for Study 12 as well, which I would eventually like to be able to play quite a bit faster.
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Eric Phillips Wow, that is a beautiful one! I was just brushing over this really quick in the Kick-Off-Challenge, but you definitely made beautiful music out of it!
It does look as the beginning would be a nice addition to the next Interactive Class on Shifting!
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Martin Yes, plenty of shifting! Only a shifty person like me can play it!
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Eric Phillips You really play this beautifully. I am not playing quite that smoothly or quickly but it's getting better.
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Peg Barrett Thank you, Peg! It's such a great piece of music.
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Study 24.
I'm going to really challenge myself with this one (while I continue to work on #12 above). Martin put this into the difficult and long categories!
The video is just an initial read through the piece. I did make some quick decisions about fingerings beforehand, but I'll probably change them a bit as I dive deeper.
What was easy: Easting breakfast this morning.
What was difficult: Too many things to write here. Clearly the section that needs the most work right now is the end (C section? Coda? It's measures 28 to the end.) But there's a lot of work to do everywhere! I really don't know what particular technical skill this study focuses on, if any. It is quite beautiful, though.
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Eric Phillips wow Erik…. What a first first read through …. beautiful!!!!
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Emma Thanks again. It obviously needs a lot of work.
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Eric Phillips pretty brilliant for an initial read through. This is indeed quite a difficult one, demanding some interpretational skills, dynamics, phrasing etc. and you did so well, just ‘improvising’? Even getting all the notes in place is not an easy thing….
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joosje Thank you, Joosje. Like I said, I wasn't reading it for the very first time. I did already go through it and make some fingering choices (which I will undoubtedly change a bit). It's another beautiful one that I had never known before this challenge,
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Eric Phillips I agree it’s beautiful. You made some good choices. I’ll go over them, interesting….
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Eric Phillips Nice work, Eric! I have the same feeling as you, not really knowing what's the technical focus on the last etudes. I think, Carcassi just wanted to add some beautiful music in the end
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Martin Well if so, he succeeded!
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Hello everybody, this second week I have been practicing number 3, 16, and 21
this is my recording of no 3
The difficult part was the recording itself!!! I get very nervous. Also the the four quavers after the triplets don’t come out as imaginé them
It was easy for me to imagine the interpretation and musicality
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Emma Excellent, Emma! You navigated those changes well and the melody was very legato. I saw some of Martin's fingerings in there!
Like you, I hate recording. My hands can do something just fine, but when I hit the record button, suddenly they can't do it anymore. It shows how much are minds and bodies are connected.
Good work, and I hope we get to hear those other pieces as well.
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Emma beautiful Emma, very musical and nice tone! I agree with you about recording. I think most of us have this ‘issue’…. You did it so well.
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Emma Beautifully done. I'd never recorded myself before joining tonebase and like you I get oddly nervous as soon as I hit record. That's part of what makes it so useful I think. Hopefully someday I'll be brave enough to play in a zoom session like Khiem Nguyen did today.
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Brett Gilbert thank you Brett. I was nervous and my heart was beating faster :) Hope that next time will be less nervous :)
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Emma Bravo, Emma!!!
Very clear and very musical! Sometimes you can be a little more relaxed with the tempo, some tempo changes seem to be a little abrupt! -
Emma wonderful, Emma! Very musical, nice phrasing! And good control also! :)
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Martin Yes, I see that. Thank you!!
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Today: Interactive Class on Carcassi's Etude no.7! Tremolo and Arpeggio, Fluidity and Motion, super excited to hang with y'all!
Interactive Livestream: Arpeggio Mastery with Carcassi No.7, op.60
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Hi everybody, here is my Etude 7 played a little slower than my previous submissions. I use my laptop's camera for a better video quality than the previous videos using my phone. It is easier to see my left hand fingering choice in this new one. Thank you for reading and watching :)
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
