WEEK 3: Mastering Carcassi's Etudes
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Carcassi Etudes op.60 challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream to get an overview over the etudes!
- Get the Scores here! (<- click)
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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I worked on etude 17. I’m not a very diligent student when it comes to octave and 6th scales. That’s why this one was a real challenge for me. I like the dramatic character though, so it was fun to practice.
it’s not too difficult to find the notes, it’s basically 2 voices and some easy chords, but it needed quite a bit of practice...
https://youtu.be/5Y7QvYhDY8M-
joosje Beautiful playing Joosje! It's great you have selected some etudes that are played less often, for us to enjoy. As usual, wonderful tone and execution. I have really enjoyed your recent submissions. Thanks!!
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joosje Excellent! I really like how you play this Etude. Very strong bass line.
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joosje so so good and crisp and with energy… we need 3 more weeks to go through them all
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joosje Wow, so good! And as Barney it's great to see you choosing some of the unique ones (okay, all of them are unique, but tend to focus on a rather defined set). I am so happy that you joined us for the last week!
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Emma Hahaa, right? You can always continue to post in the forum threads, but after a break of one week we will be back with a new challenge!
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Etude No. 16 (again) - Take #2!
- Things you found easy: This was so difficult for me at the beginning of the challenge but I tried this again having not played it for a week and it was so much easier! I realized I have it memorized now which makes it easier to play without looking at music.
- Things you found difficult: One of the reasons I wanted to try this again was to get the final chord sequence recommended by Martin . That took a lot of practice and it's still a stretch but I think I got it.
- (Optional): a video of you performing it! The lighting is better in this video than the first since it's daytime, also I have a new set of strings (in first video I had pretty old strings). Strings are still settling in so it sounded a bit out-of-tune by the end...
I continue to work on #2 and #10, but not sure I will be able to get them "video ready" before Monday. As Martin said, the challenge doesn't end this week and I will continue to practice these for years to come inspired by all of your videos.
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Brett Gilbert Coming along very nicely. I like how you bring out the melody line with your "a" finger.
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Brett Gilbert Sounds great, Brett! I love the little glissando you put in there!
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Brett Gilbert very nice , Brett. I like this tempo, and I agree with Eric for the glissando., great update
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Brett Gilbert Beautiful Brett!! I really enjoyed your dedication towards bringing out the melody with the ring finger and of course that you took up the challenge to find a solution for the last chord, Bravo! I especially enjoy the slightly higher tempo and the fluidity you perform with! Playing a piece by heart really makes a difference!
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Here's another try at Carcassi #2. It's just the first few measures. I'm struggling with both the transitions between chords and the pima mimi. I want to try some other fingerings and pima mama.
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Elizabeth Uyehara Nicely done. I like your tone and I thought the transitions went well.
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Elizabeth Uyehara That's sounding really good, Elizabeth!
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Elizabeth Uyehara Very nice. I've been working on this as well and playing with different fingerings. I assume you saw Martin's video recently on this...I found it very helpful.
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Elizabeth Uyehara beautiful. I liked listening, so keep going with this lovely etude. Thank you for sharing your progress….
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Elizabeth Uyehara well done!!!! Very nice!
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Brett Gilbert Yes, I watched Martin's video and I'm looking forward to trying out the different fingerings and mama instead of mimi.
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Emma joosje Brett Gilbert Eric Phillips Dale Needles Thank you everyone for the encouragement. It's inspiring to watch all of you more experienced players!
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Elizabeth Uyehara This is so, so good! Your tone and left hand improved so much since you took part in the beginner challenge, but the energy with which challenge yourself with new techniques and repertoire is still the same which is absolutely a joy to watch and inspiring! Thank you, great submission!
pimamama is definitely a challenge in itself, but I find it to stabilize the hand very well once we got control over our a finger!
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Elizabeth Uyehara you have improved your left hand transitions a lot Elizabeth. It sounds very good. Congratulations! Keep on the good work! :)
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I wanted to include a study that contained Scales, so here is Etude #1. I forgot how much attention this one really needs to play well. Needless to say, I should work on this more to clean up some rough spots. Sorry about the camera position for the right hand; I only had time for one take and did not want to wait to send it to you guys.
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Barney Very well done. You did a great job with those scales.
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Dale Needles Thanks Dale!
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Barney That was great Barney! You used some excellent fingering choices to keep things legato and consistent.
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Barney I also enjoy watching #1 played at speed, very smooth with the scales and shifts.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
