WEEK 3: Dóbry wétscher (Good Evening)!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Nikita Koshkin challenge! This is the place for the Week 3 Submissions!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
- Get the Scores Here
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
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And here we go, getting my feet wet with Study No.9! Day one passed without any epiphanies, there's probably a lot to say about left hand stability and barre performance, but since it's already late I went with the path of least resistance here!
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Martin sorry Martin, I didn’t mean to criticize - you or anyone else. I’m just having problems with this motif myself. I can’t seem to get it right. And don’t know how to come to grips with it. It’s becoming my stumbling stone. Maybe at a higher tempo it will fall into place…. I will have internet access hopefully till tomorrow evening. If I have time I’ll try to record something.
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Martin Very inspiring Martin. It will be too late for the challenge but I think I will have a look at this piece. (Another one on the long list!)
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Study 9 Update
Here is where it's at right now for me.
What was easy: Tuning the sixth string down to D maybe?
What was difficult: Playing all the notes.
But here are some specifics. - The slurs in measures 11, 16, and 18 sound strained and not beautiful at all.
- The huge leaps and shifts in measures 12-14 I almost never play accurately (including in this video).
- The right hand harmonics in measures 20-23 are so hard for me to play in time. I'd love to be able to pluck them with my thumb, as Koshkin suggests, but I'd have to drop the tempo by about half to hit them in time. So I gave up on that (at least for now) and am plucking them with the ring finger.
- At this tempo, the harmonics in measures 24-27 are rarely accurate. I think I just need to commit these measures to memory so I can keep my eyes on the guitar and not the music. I don't know if this is my age showing, but I find it very difficult to see the correct frets up so high, and I almost get dizzy trying, especially at tempo.
I'll keep plugging away. I really want to be able to play this one well, as I love it so much, but I lose hope sometimes, especially when recording it.
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Eric Phillips wow Eric... amazing how you progressed on this one, that's sound really good and your musical ideas are taking shape. For sure if you go the route of memorizing it you'll reach a level of expression I would like to hear, good work!
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Eric Phillips Wow, great job Eric! I see you gave up on the thumb plucked harmonics at speed. As you know, I had that problem as well. I presented that challenge to Martin, who said he would evaluate and perhaps come up with a solution. So let us both not give up on it quite yet till we hear back from Martin.
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Barney No pressure, Martin, no pressure
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Barney Thanks Barney. Yeah, I just could not do it quickly or accurately. I have a hard enough time at this tempo plucking with the ring finger. Maybe Martin can share some magic with us though!
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Martin Martin, I just want you to magically make me play like John Williams. Is that too much to ask for?
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Eric Phillips
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Martin Oh man! I can't wait to go home and pick up my guitar! (If this doesn't work, I'm suing you, Martin.)
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Eric Phillips Oh, I could magically make you forget that you wanna sue me, but for that I'd need to create another meme, I'd rather use that time for practicing
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Eric Phillips I want to sound like Jonh Williams too! Hey, the first time I heard Recuerdos de la Alhambra was by John Williams on his first album. Best sounding tremolo I had ever heard.
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Martin I know you are a wizard with vast magical powers, but no pressure
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Martin practicing guitar wizardry
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Martin Barney Blaise Laflamme We are all such nerds!
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Eric Phillips and will all want to have fun and not take ourselves too seriously.
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Barney We may have to check Dumbledore, if it's okay to do this kind of magic...
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Eric Phillips Barney Martin as long as Martin is not forging a «string» to rule us all
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Blaise Laflamme Barney Eric Phillips
4 Strings for the Ukulele-kings under the hawaian sky,
5 for the Bass-lords in their basements of stone,
10 for Russian Cat-Masters doomed to play Koshkin Studies,
1 for the tonebase host on his dark Streaming Throne
In the Land of tonebase, where the livestreams and recordings lie.
1 String to rule them all, 1 String to tune them,
1 String to bring them all, and in an subscription to bind them,
In the Land of tonebase where the livestreams and recordings lie. -
Martin wow Martin... I like you man...
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Martin the fellowship of Tonebase will not fail
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Eric Phillips I came back on-line and saw(heard) this . Wow, so beautiful. You did a great job on this one. I liked every bit of your interpretation. Great addition to your repertoire. The piece is yours.
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joosje Thank you, Joosje, I appreciate you kind words. I still don't feel like it's mine, though. Getting there.
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Eric Phillips Eric - maybe not like John Williams but very impressive none the less! I think it's a great achievement to play the piece as well as that in the time you've had - especially with the other pieces you've done. Well done!
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Derek Thanks, Derek! Not like John Williams, eh? I’m suing Martin!
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
