Week 2: Share your Love! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of the "Music YOU Love" practice challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- link comes soon)
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Andre Bernier Bob Voyage! That could be a lot of fun!
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Marilyn Blodget That was beautiful, Marilyn! An impressive palette of colors! Like Eric, I'm still looking for the dust... Thank you for sharing this amazing performance! Regards!
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Marilyn Blodget What a joy to listen to Marilyn! So beautiful, and your sound quality is amazing!
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Moyses Lopes Thank you Moyses
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Steve Pederson Thanks Steve
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Sor - Minuets 4 and 5 from Op 11
I'm going to let you all in on a secret: I really LOVE Sor. (Okay, maybe that's not much of a secret.
)Playing the minuet from his Op 3 last week has made me want to do some more of his minuets, this time from his well-known Op 11.
What do I love about these two pieces? The abrupt dynamic changes that Sor wrote into the score I think are very dramatic and effective. I also like how they sound so great one after the other, with #4 being so lyrical and moody, while #5 is just pure joy and fireworks.
They are definitely works in progress. I'd like #4 to be a bit faster, but not too much. #5 has one very challenging measure for me to play fast (measure 10), so I need to work on that measure a lot before I can play it consistently at the speed I'd like. I like #5 to be rather fast, especially when paired with the slower #4.
I've attached a score of the whole opus, in case you're interested. For these recordings, I skipped all the repeats.
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Eric Phillips Great start on these Eric! Sor has so many lovely gems!
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Eric Phillips These are both great, Eric. They do make a good pairing and you're doing a great job performing them. You would probably know - #5 seems to suggest a Sor sonata, maybe op 15. It is mostly the repeated appoggiatura bass notes that triggered that memory. Did you get that sense?
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Marilyn Blodget Thank you, Marilyn! I can never get enough of Sor.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. Yes, the opening of #5 did remind me of his famous Op 15 sonata. I wonder if that was a conscious connection for Sor.
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Eric Phillips Very impressive again Eric. How can you learn such difficult pieces of music so fast? Thanks a lot for sharing with us.
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Andre Bernier Thanks, Andre. Yes, I tend to get pieces to the 70% level pretty quickly. It's that extra 30% of playing the music at a high performance level where I struggle and lack patience.
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Eric Phillips this is for sure a love I can share with you . These are my Sor favorites (with the other 10 minuets op. 11). They are real miniatures, like Rembrandt etchings, every little detail matters, that's why I will never get bored playing them. You can experiment with colors, phrasing, it will sound fresh again and again. Beautiful start, Eric. Great to see and hear you at work with these ...
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joosje Thanks, Joosje! Music is so great!
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martin Hey guys, Got a late start due to left hand injury, but wanted to get current status to you. Could only due one take as left hand still hurts some. I tried to do the piece from memory, which I was working on without the guitar for a while. Had some lapses here, but I see where they are.
I think the left hand injury may have been due in part to a chord in the Copla lyrical section of this piece played in 1st position. It has a stretch with wrist out at an angle, which is held for a bit. I tried to adjust it here, but if someone has suggestions about it, please let me know. Thanks!
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Barney Wow-that’s a great piece! I can see that’s a very challenging left hand. So sorry for your injury, but I have no suggestions except for possibly bringing your left shoulder forward. I love the rhythms and compelling harmonies.
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Barney That is spectacular, Barney. You have great command of this very challenging piece. Your tone and phrasing are beautiful. Even your lapses were impressive. If you can play like that with a left hand injury I'm going to try a hammer on mine. I am looking forward to seeing your next posting.
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Marilyn Blodget Thanks and appreciate your suggestion Marilyn!
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! I may have to give this piece a rest for a while until I can figure out this left hand issue, and that passage I mentioned. I may have to choose a different shorter piece I was working on to submit for next posting.
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Barney Very good. You will definitely get it all the way with practice. Just a small comment I would prefer the rhythm cords/ accompaniement in the introduction a little more strong , clear and rhythmic, flame fish
Like you I my favorites are the Spanish style.
I feel it is regarded old fashioned, but luckily as amateurs we can play what we like the most.BTW I remember I played through the piece when E Inestals course on it was released on TB.… and I thought there is a stretch that will kill my left hand.
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Lars Kjøller-Hansen Thank you Lars!
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Barney I really wish you luck in recovering. We guitarists are so vulnerable - from fingernails to shoulders and back. To a speedy recovery!
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Jack Stewart Thanks very much Jack! So true about injuries, and slower to recover as we get older...I am trying to work around it.
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Barney this is beautifbeautiful, Barney. Great control and tour wonderful warm tone cones out all over the piece.
Don't insist too much , once your motoric system has identified this passage as a stress moment , so the muscles will enter in a sort of emergency mode - not good for balance and relaxation.
One thing you could do in these passages is cutting up in small bits and in between total relaxation let the hand and wrist return to their natural free position , hovering above the strings. Once you get used to that the muscle memory will adapt to that feeling of relaxation. (TB Piano teacher explains this for playing long octaves passages. I don't know if this would help here...)
I don't know this piece, never played but, looks quite demanding. Bravo
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Barney I am speechless with that great performance. Thank you Barney for sharing it.
For your left hand, I experienced a similar situation a few years ago when I badly hurt my left hand hitting a root when playing golf. I had pain in the wrist and on the thumb joint with the wrist as soon I was trying to hold something. I dragged that pain for many weeks until I went to see a chiropractor. With some manipulation on the wrist joint and the use of ultrasound (Like in Echographie) which accelerates the recovery. Within just few weeks, the pain was gone.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
