Week 1: Setting Sails! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the "Music YOU Love" practice challenge!
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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I've decided to concentrate on Richard Rodney Bennet rather than Lennox Berkely (although I'd still like to have a go at the Sonatine Blaise Laflamme ). I used to play Impromptus 1 and 5 many years ago so here is my first attempt at no 1 for this challenge. I find the timing quite tricky and I can't count some of the bars and play at the same time so I'm going on the feel rather than strict timing. Another one that I will be working on over the next few weeks and hopefully other impromptus to follow!
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Derek That’s great, Derek! I love your tone. I played number 1-5 for my college “senior recital” more than thirty years ago, and I haven’t touched them since. It’s strange to think that this music is nostalgic, but for me it is. Looking forward to more!
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Eric Phillips Thank you Eric. I've never played them all. One of my old music teachers used to organise concerts for his pupils to play at (I was a 'mature student' and they were mainly for the younger kids parents to attend). I used to like playing numbers 1 and 5 because none of the audience would know if I'd made any mistakes :-)
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Derek That's really nice, Derek. Such a great period of music with all the work Bream was involved with.
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Derek great start on this Derek, I'm happy you choose Bennet, such interesting music, this is a work I definitely want to play at some point. I hope you'll manage to play a few of them over the challenge.
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Eric Phillips Amazing that you played them 30 years ago... far from Sor's music we're used to hear you play!
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Derek That was great, Derek. I am familiar with these pieces from Bream's Dedication Album, though I have never played them. I will have to look into them, this is very nice. Thanks.
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Eric Phillips You are just full of surprises!
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Blaise Laflamme Yes, my style and tastes have changed a bit. At that same recital, I performed a completely atonal piece that I wrote for tape and guitar in a class I took on electronic music. When I think of that now, it just makes me smile
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Eric Phillips Wow... you are full of surprises! You should bring it back to life, but use an MP3 instead of a tape
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise. I'm hoping to play all of them. Perhaps not all this month but I'll certainly have a go at a couple more.
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Jack Stewart thanks Jack
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Steve Price thanks Steve
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Blaise Laflamme That one has been in the grave for so long I don’t think it can be brought back to life, and I am fine with that.
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Derek Great choice, Derek! Who cares about strict timing?
Thanks for sharing! -
Eric Phillips I need to know this piece! Classical guitar and tape! Are so few pieces, you're a visionary!
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Moyses Lopes Trust me, you are are better off never hearing it. It was me trying to be "avante garde" and my poor family and friends had to endure listening to it.
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Tibetan Prayer Song (arr. Ben Verdery)
As I continue to work on Frederic Hand's Elegy for a King, I would like to sporadically post a few other pieces from around the world. This one is a Tibetan melody that I understand is sung to a variety of Tibetan prayers (mantras). I do find that playing it gives me a deep sense of peace and beauty.
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Eric Phillips That is truly beautiful, Eric. It does impart a deep sense of inner peace and calm. I also love the ending. Very powerful - in a peaceful sort of way.
I traveled across Tibet in 1995. It was an amazing place - almost like being on another planet.
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Eric Phillips Beautiful Eric, introspective and meditative...
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Eric Phillips A beautiful pieces Eric. I need to find a beach house somewhere nice and hot (or maybe somewhere remote in the mountains) so that I could just wake up in the morning and listen to this repeatedly while the coffee brewed!
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Derek Sounds like heaven! (Especially the coffee part
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Eric Phillips Incredible! As Jack said, this piece conveys a deep sense of inner peace. Is there an explanatory note about the three brush strokes on the box? A hidden meaning?
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Eric Phillips So meditative! Beautifully played. Thank you!
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The second A section of "Georgia."
Transcribing this recording made me appreciate how much easier some of this is nowadays. I remember trying to do the same thing by slowing down records or a tape deck and then having to transpose the notes to the correct pitch. And all the back and forth would wreck the album or tape. Now, I have a free app that can cut something to 1/4 speed and loop it in pitch.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
