Week 2 - Practicing Passages // May 10
Hello and welcome to the Main Thread for Week 2 of the virtuosity challenge! 
This is the place to discuss the Week 2 stream and post your Week 2 practice updates.
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the Week 2 livestream here for help with this week's exercises!
Download the sheet music: in this second week, we will be working with different excerpts from my right-hand technique workshop, as well as some new materials.
Download them both here:
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Right-hand exercise book (<- click)
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Download additional sheet music here (now with fingerings!)
Video updates are encouraged due to the technical aspect of this challenge 
Feel free to upload videos into your replies OR simply link to YouTube. YouTube video submissions CAN be unlisted. Just make sure they're not set on "private", so we can all see them.
If you want to describe your process, feel free to use the following template.
- Exercise(s) you have been working on:
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
↓ Reply below with your submissions and questions! ↓
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Excerpts from piece I submitted for wk three, using Mircea's suggested solutions.
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david robinson it is a beautiful piece and you play it well, I can't wait for you to make us feel complete
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Hello! I am starting to prepare the Prelude in C minor by Barrios using preparation, in this case i and a preparation, along with the p. It became a bit difficult when the i and a were in adjacent strings but once the dynamic was in place I felt secure only to worry on the left hand. I tried to apply also the mapping of the left hand as shown by Peter Graneis which I found very useful. The scales of Serenata are in practice, will try to send video before tomorrow
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watching the video is useful! I see that the middle voice is too loud :)
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Emma That seems to be coming along nicely Emma
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Emma sounds nice Emma
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Emma how much I like this piece, very good
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Emma This is sounding so good, Emma - congratulations! I love the way you're playing this, and also the way you're applying principles from the virtuosity challenge to other pieces from your repertoire. That is exactly the right next step for when we're coming out of an intensive technique course like this! So beautiful. And the preparation works great!
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Hi all - a bit late but better late than never. I've been practising these exercises for the last couple of weeks, including the Paganini extract. I've also been trying to plant as Mircea recommended on the Brouwer Opus 8 Number 4 which I have been studying although it's easier to say it than do it - I did video myself but found that I don't do much planting on it so I need to work on that.
Video attached of the Brouwer Etudes 1 and 7 exercises (not sure if I'm planting on number 1!) and the Villa Lobos 7 plus the Clerch scale.
Things I found easy: Most of the exercises are OK at slow speed
Things I found hard: Speed and the shifts in the Paganini (and watching myself on video - that's why I zoomed in to the hand!)
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Derek this is great, thank you for posting these, Derek! You are not late
in fact, you can keep posting here even after the challenge is over! I hope to see you (and some of our other participants) continuing to practice these exercises and excerpts long after the end of our guided activity here. Let's jump into some targeted advice:
- Brouwer Etude 1: you are not actually doing the chord preparation, but you are doing the a finger planting, which is arguably more important in this piece! Sounding great, too.
- Brouwer Etude 7: great job! Couple of little details: 1) make sure the arpeggio is in the same tempo as the slurred passage following it (you tend to slow down once you finish the arpeggio); 2) planting your thumb on the 4th or 5th string following the arpeggio will make it a little easier to play the passage following it; 3) you were still in D tuning when you played the excerpt, so some of the notes at the very end of the passage were off by a major second
- VL Etude 7: amazing job! Just like I was saying to Barney, you tend to go from a more rest stroke to a more free stroke form of attack once you reach the 4th or 5th string. The passage still sounds good, it's just something to be aware of. Staying consistent in your movement will enable your sound and tone color to be consistent, too!
- Clerch: great job!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
