WEEK 1: Select And Practice Your Piece! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the End-Of-The-Year Community Concert Challenge!
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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I'm working on Paco Talarn's Canco Trista. It's such a great mix of tragedy and hope. I've always loved it but avoided playing it since I mostly stuck to fingered pieces, especially ones that move around quite a bit, so this seemed like an excuse to work it up. Here's the first section that I'll be polishing up shortly with more to follow hopefully by the end of the month.
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Steve Price I've never heard of this piece Steve! Thank you for introducing it to me! Great start! I know it's mellow and slow, but it looks like this piece has plenty of challenges lying in it.
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Steve Price This is a beautiful piece, Steve. You have a very good start. I am looking forward to hear/see you progress.
I had never heard it before. I just found a beautiful recording on the SiccasGuitar channel on YouTube; Ferran Talarn plays Cançó Trista by P. Talarn
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Steve Price That’s a good piece, with all those qualities that make the guitar shine. I never heard it. Good start, let us hear your progress….
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack. I've been referring to that recording the composer's son made when I had questions about how to play something. I think he recorded that a couple of years after his dad died and I think a lot of that emotion comes through. Puts pressure on me to do it justice I think.
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joosje Thanks joosje. I think you're right about the piece, but it's a little harder than I thought since it feels so exposed. There's no place to hide all my usual mistakes, lol.
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Steve Price Wow! I didn't even notice the same last name. I just searched YT for a recording and I felt that was, by far, the best version. That makes sense hearing that he was the composer's son. Thanks for the info.
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Steve Price How touching and beautiful! Thank you for giving that to us!!!
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Steve Price I've also never heard this work, I'm glad you shared it with us. I hope to hear more of you!
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Steve Price Wonderful music - I never heard of this before. Thanks for bringing that to me.
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Bach Cello Suite #1 Prelude
I realized what I've been forgetting...
Using a metronome!
Blaise Laflamme suggested including the score I'm working on, since I'm creating my own arrangement. I have attached that.
In this video I am practicing two tricky spots - m. 13 and beat 3 of m. 27 going into m. 28.
M. 13 is just new to me. (See my post above if interested.)
M. 27-28 has a fingering issue that I'm trying to resolve. I had been using the 4th finger for the A on beat one, and then swinging that fourth finger down to catch the C# on the and of 1. However, the 4th finger has proven unreliable when I really need it! So, I am trying sliding my second finger into that spot instead. It feels much more solid.
In this recording I'm using a metronome (a hip hop beat, naturally) and going back and forth between these two passages, which creates, what to me feels like, a live situation.
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Steve Pederson Very good Steve. You have a very good grasp of those passages. (or should I refer to them as 'samples' considering the hiphop beat
). Looking forward to hearing/seeing your progress.
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Steve Pederson interesting to see and hear how you are working on those passages. Looking forward to hearing you play this in our concert.
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Steve Pederson Yess!!!
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! Yes, I like the term "samples"!
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joosje Thanks Joosje!
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Steve Pederson thanks for sharing the score!
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Blaise Laflamme definitely - it was a great idea!
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Steve Pederson I think, Bach would appreciate and enjoy the underlying beat. :-) Good progress here.
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Weiss Fantasia Revisited
I'm reviving the Weiss Fantasia from a year ago and am working on rephrasing it. I'm especially focusing on the introduction section which was originally written w/o barlines. I am trying to give a more free form, improvisatory feel to it. It still needs work. I'd be interested in the community members' comments.
I might be able to record a revision of BWV 996 Allemande before I leave for Spain (Monday morning!!!). I return on the 29th so this (these) will be my only opportunity to participate in this challenge. I will definitely watch the Watch Party after I get back.
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Jack Stewart I definitely feel your passion in this one Jack! Fantastic! Have a wonderful time in Spain!!! I know you said you are going to the Alhambra. Any other points of interest?
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Steve Pederson Its a bit of a sampler. We are arriving in Lisbon for 4 days, hen to Seville / Granada for 4-5 days, Valencia for 3-4 days and, finally, Madrid for 4-5 days. Our daughter is joining us in Granada for the rest of the trip. We each had a favorite spot, hence the scattershot schedule. Our daughter had a semester in Spain (Balboa) and my wife went to visit while she was there. This is my first trip to Europe (aside from a layover in Amsterdam 45 years ago).
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Jack Stewart wow, your ideas are more clear, refined and rendered than last time! I like the way you take freedom in the intro, mostly by chords, I'll probably do the same with even more time between each and using enlarged agogic accents on relevant notes. I'll also slow down far more at the intro's end and take more time before starting the fugato. Good work!
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Jack Stewart Very nice!! This piece is coming along so well. Love to hear more. Have a great trip to Spain. Your trip sounds wonderful, all great cities. It is nice to be able to travel again, I spent the month of October in Sicily and had a wonderful time. I found traveling in Europe relatively safe but still be careful in airports. My and I wife double masked in airports and on flights. Let's get together when you get back in January. Would love to hear about your trip and play some music. I am still working mostly on Carlevaro compositions, focusing on his Preludios Americanos and Introduccion y Capricho.
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Jack Stewart That sounds like an amazing trip!!! I went on a trip called "La Ruta de La Guitarra" this past September that was very similiar - started in Madrid, then went to Seville, Malaga, Granada and Valencia! It changed my life. I'm sure you'll love it!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
