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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Sor Op 6 No 12 measures 22-61 Dec 6
So here is the entire rest of the study, picking up where I left off yesterday, at measure 22. This is the B section (in minor) and the repeated A section (in major), so essentially it's the entire piece.
It's still very rough around the edges, with plenty of mistakes and not much musicality.
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Eric Phillips yes, I love it already and Sor is not easy with all those weird chord-changes and it already sounds good! Which score do you use?
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thank you. I am using a score from IMSLP that’s only one page and has no fingerings, which I always prefer. I think it might be the original publication of the opus. I do look at the fingerings other people put on their scores, but I like a clean one for myself.
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Eric Phillips ah ok, I dont like tabs but I appreciate fingerings although I try out alternative fingerings as well but it is more easy to start for me. I looked up Sor opus 6 and found several books and pages for load down. Some were numbert different as Segovoa-etudes
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First of all, thank you in advance for listening. I've been dealing with some serious bodily pain which has prevented me from playing guitar for the last couple of days. I feel like I haven't played in ages!
It was a toss-up between three songs:
I've always wanted to learn some arrangements of the Nutcracker Suite for guitar for the holidays. I have worked on the March in years past, but there's a section that's just too fast for me, so I decided to go with one of the following...
Winter Wonderland. This is my own arrangement of the song. It's holiday specific, so I thought it would be cool for this time of year, and Lord knows I need to work on it! I'm insecure, though, about the idea that it might not be considered "serious" repertoire - that it might in fact be quite cheesy.
Bach Cello Suite 1 Prelude (BWV 1007). I have been working on this quite a bit for the last couple of months. This is also my own arrangement - taken from bits and pieces of several other people's arrangements and some of my own interpretations. The main challenge with this one for me now is playing it all the way through with few to no mistakes. It's frustrating, because I can play every section fine. I just can't seem to get through the entire piece without major flubs.
It would be interesting to hear which one you would like to hear more of in this challenge.
Well, without any further adieu...
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Steve Pederson Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your ideas and videos - great!
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Steve Pederson I like your song arrangement, Steve, although I think the opening bars could be taken just a little faster. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether it wouldn’t work better on the burgundy thin-line hanging behind you. (Time to channel your inner ‘Chet’!?) The Bach prelude is coming along nicely. I have the same difficulty memorizing Bach’s music. Seems to be a common problem ….
(P.S. I know you’re happily married, Stave, but if that’s your living room, prepare for single-hood!)
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David Krupka Thanks David. Ha! No, don't be silly. That's not my living room. Nobody would be that crazy. That's my dining room!
I actually have the best wife in the world. When my oldest daughter was born 19 years ago we turned our dining room, which never really got much use, into my home office/studio. It has it's down sides as well, though. Trust me.
I hear you on the intro to WW. The whole thing needs to be taken up a few notches in the ol' bpm scale. -
Steve Pederson I love them both Steve!
WW - Very cool arrangement. What I like the most is the great bass lines, and then the section when you go up higher on the neck. It still needs some polishing, but that is a piece that would be enjoyed by guitarists and non-guitarists, musicians and non-musicians alike.
Bach - Sounding really good. Even though it's not "holiday" music, there is something about this piece that just seems to fit this time of year. I picture Yo Yo Ma playing it in front of some giant Christmas tree, like at the White House (I think that was in an episode of the West Wing). Adding some more dynamic and tonal variety would kick it up a notch.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric! I appreciate the feedback, and I don't mind being compared to Yo Yo Ma!
Playing at the White House or the Rockefeller Center is a nice visual! -
Steve Pederson great start Steve with two submissions! You have done a great job with both the arrangement and the transcription. Playing all through without any mistakes is what we all want for Christmas, but that said keeping the focus and direction is even more important IMHO. Great work!
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Steve Pederson Really nice on these. I thought Winter Wonderland is a great fun arrangement with that mix of crazy jazzy extended chords and finger picking. Very cool. And more classical guitar pieces should have that A-Train ending, lol. So good.
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Steve Pederson Both peaces I like very much and I admire your ability to make your own arrangements. I love the prelude so much and the guitar sounds great so clear and warm at once.
the winterwonderland is jazzy and fresh...so hard to decide but I love the spruce sound.....
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise!
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Steve Price agreed!
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks Stefanie!
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Steve Pederson I agree with what others have said, both pieces are really good. Your arrangement of Winter et al is very good as is your playing.
BWV 1007 Prelude was also very solid. You have a very good grasp of it. I would think you could work on both.
Looking forward to seeing more.
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Steve Pederson That's funny, Steve. As it happens, I sometimes yearn (quietly!) to repurpose my own dining room in just such a manner. (Pretty sure that won't be happening any time soon though ,,,)
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Hi,
here is my 1st take of Moreno-Torroba's "Montemayor" recorded today. Sorry for bad light (and sound) conditions.I tried this piece with a lot of different LH fingerings. Currently (and different from the printed edition that I am using), I am playing with a lot of open strings and with focus on, for example, keeping the soprano melody in the middle of the piece on the 1st string only. On the other hand, sometimes open strings need to be stopped from ringing... But I think I will stick to this version right now.
Within the next days I would like to focus on musicality and to perform this lovely, wonderful piece as best as I can.-
Robert Nice one Robert! I hadn't heard of this piece until now. Keep up the good work!
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Robert Great piece of music! It makes me feel like I'm in the Spanish countryside.
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Robert beautiful piece and good work you've already done on it! This is not an easy task to make that kind of music sounds legato and fluid, a lot of gymnastic for the left hand!
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Robert This is coming along really well. Such a pretty piece.
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Robert wow, what a wonderful peace! not easy to do and already sounding, I did not know that peace, thank you for playing it to us!!!!
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Robert this is so beautiful. Maybe it’s more challenging (compared to Brouwer) to play in a concert (and quite short, little time to grow into the piece). But you can handle it well enough already.
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Robert This was very nice, Steve. I also had never heard this before. Beautiful. (PS. nice light show).
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
