Week 1: In the Salons of 19th Century Paris! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the "Around the 19th Century Guitar World" challenge!
Pick a piece from the 19th century and feel free to share it! Tell us what you love about it, how long you've been playing it, what you're struggling with! Let us into your practice room 
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- click)
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Sor - Andante Largo Op 5 No 5
I have been working on this spectacular piece of music for a little over a month now. Opus 5 is a collection of pieces described by Sor as 'Six Very Easy Little Pieces'. This may have been easy for Sor to play, but not for me!
This video is also a technological first for me. I recorded it in sections, and then edited the sections together in Davinci. It wasn't easy, but I think I did okay. Let me know what you think.
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Eric Phillips Nicely phrased and played! Wow!
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Ernesto Thanks! Someday I’d like to revisit this piece and make some improvements.
You’re really digging through the TB archives here!
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Coste - Leçon 24 from teh Sor-Coste Method
I had heard this before, but I was unaware that it came from the Sor-Coste method until I starting perusing it at David Krupka 's suggestion yesterday. It's just a perfect little intermediate-level piece, and I'm surprised that it didn't make it's way into one of the collections of studies published by Coste.
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Eric Phillips Wow! that is a really nice piece beautifully played, Eric. Thanks for sharing that..
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack!
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Coste - Op 51 No 10 Mélancolie
Coste's Opus 51 is called 'Récréation de Guitariste' and so seems to be intended for amateur musicians like myself. Pieces like this put Coste firmly in the Romantic era.
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Eric Phillips Another gem, Eric. Coste seems to be similar to me as is Chopin. I seem to like his shorter pieces much more than his larger works.
Beautiful.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. See, you’re having a conversion.
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Eric Phillips well played Eric, thanks for sharing this discovery with us, just got the score from IMSLP.
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Eric Phillips Jack Stewart I think Eric will have converted Jack by the end of this challenge!
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Blaise Laflamme Jack Stewart I am a happy evangelist (proselytizer?) for the religion of Romantic guitar music! Convert or die, Jack!
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Blaise Laflamme Glad you like it. Be sure to check out #12 and #14 in the same opus. Great stuff!
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Sor - Andantino Op 44 No 9
Here is my next installment in the Summer of Sor Studies. This has such an elegant melody and very interesting inner voice movement. Classic Sor.
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Coste - Barcarolle Op 51 No 14
I was going to move on from Coste, but someone suggested that I give this barcarolle a try from the same set of pieces I finished up in yesterday (Opus 51 Récréation de Guitariste). I'm so glad, because I adore this piece. It has so many interesting chord changes and mood shifts. It also has some melody lines in harmonics, which Coste doesn't seem to do much. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy playing it!
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Eric Phillips great Eric, it is indeed a beautiful piece with interesting harmonies.
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Eric Phillips Wow, you were super fast Eric. Haven't checked the forum for 2 days, and there are already 7 new videos uploaded! Among all your new videos, I like Coste's music the best. And I don't know why, music with the title "Barcarolle" always caught my attention, I found that they all have beautiful melodies.
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Wai Thanks, Wai. I’m loving the Coste music as well. I will try to record one more of his tomorrow.
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Eric Phillips Wonderful! You're making me want to learn some Coste pieces now! One thing that I always appreciate about your playing is your hand efficiency/economy. I just watched my videos, and my left hand especially is all over the place - fingers flying every which way. I've got to get that under control. Seems like you've got great control and relaxation of your hands.
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Steve Pederson I've got you fooled! It's all camera trickery.
Seriously, I don't feel like I have great control, particularly of my right hand, but I trust your unbiased observation and appreciate the kind words. The journey is long, and the progress is slow, but the music makes it all worth it.
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Eric Phillips well said.
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I’m taking this opportunity to familiarize myself with the Carulli pieces I never learned in the beginner book “A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar - Part One” by Charles Duncan.
Man, you can always learn something, even from the “simplest” of pieces! What I like about working on these pieces is that it gives you an opportunity to focus on so many more layers - instead of trying to just “hang on for dear life” to get the notes right.
What I found most challenging, especially from “Andante Grazioso”, was getting the right hand fingering right.
Also, because of so much repetition, it challenges you to come up with dynamic ways to keep it interesting.
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Steve Pederson I thoroughly enjoyed all three of those. Simple music played well really makes me love the guitar so much. It’s kind of like cooking - when you have beautiful ingredients, you don’t need to do much to them to make a delicious meal.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric. That is a great analogy! Better one simple meal with a couple really good ingredients than a huge buffet of rotten food!
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Steve Pederson great stuff Steve, and all payed on a spruce-top! You're right about smaller and easier pieces, if I speak for myself I would have to admit that I learn each time I play something. I naturally have a mindset of finding solution to problems or find order in chaos, then each time is a new time to make things different.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise. That's a great perspective - to learn every time you play something.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
