WEEK ONE Updates: Main Thread - Where the magic happens!
Hello and welcome to the WEEK ONE Main Thread for this challenge! 
Since Week 1 is over, this thread is now closed for update submissions
Feel free to continue replying to people's existing submissions, but if you would like to post an update, use the current Week 2 thread.
Alright my friends - this is the thread where we'll all be posting our daily updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Twice a week between January 28th and February 19th, I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music:
- Exercises 1 - 12 (← click)
- Exercises 13 - 24 (← click)
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Etude you worked on:
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
Sample daily update:
- Etude you worked on: No. 1
- One thing you found easy: The polyphony between bass and treble flowed very naturally, I had an easy time playing each line like it belonged to its own voice.
- One thing you found difficult: I had a hard time creating enough variety throughout the repeated measures.
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
-
- Etude I worked on: #3
Lovely piece, not that "small" as it looks like. - One thing I found easy: short, simple structure; can be played by sightreading (on a basic level, from a technical point of view such as fingering LH etc. I never played that before).
- One thing I found difficult: It looks easy (technical perspective; not complicated w.r.t. fingering etc). However, to make it sound interesting and really get to the point (while recording myself) was not that easy. One has to take care of dotted rhythms, the two ornaments (you need to be prepared...), the ringing and damping of notes in order to have clear sounding of voices, and also different volume and/or colour is useful and requires good focus. In addition, there is an interesting descending line in the middle voice at the beginning of the 2nd part, which can be highlighted (I did not do that much in this recording). Overall: practicing is not finished yet, and it is good for me to come down to some stuff that can be regarded as "basic" (but not easy) as well as "important". To work on this etude helped me to focus on some aspects of LH and RH and to be aware of musical shaping a piece not only in theory but also in practice (plus: while being recorded).
- YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/aiINotENTmM
-
Robert Well played Robert. I found the last few bars quite tricky but you played them very well
-
Robert Well played Robert. The ornaments certainly look a bit tricky. Thank for sharing your performance
- Etude I worked on: #3
-
- Etude you worked on: #8 - What a delightful study, not one I've played before
- One thing you found easy: I found the first couple of sections reasonable easy to read through and the repeats give lots of opportunity to explore different dynamics and tone colour
- One thing you found difficult: I stumbled through the third and 4th sections (particularly the penultimate bar of section 3 with the dotted rhythm and ornament). Quite a bit more work to do!
-
Inspired by Giuseppe Gasparini I read Etude number 22. Easy part is that the rhythm is consistent slow 8ths. Difficult is all the barre chords
-
David Chidsey What makes me angry is that, every recording there is always some creaking too much
-
-
I worked on no. 18 today and still find the chord changes challenging.
-
Vilio Celli Bravo, now you have it in your fingers, with a little more work it will be fluid
-
Giuseppe Gasparini Grazie Giuseppe will keep working on it
-
-
Just checking in. I played 2 and 3 and found them simple enough but when I played #4 I found it to be more challenging than it looked. I could easily sight read it but that doesn’t mean it laid easily on the fingers, so I’ve been working on fingerings and some tricky bits so that I can make it sound like what I hear in my head. I’ll make a recording over the weekend when I have more time.
-
Estudio number 8. I found easy the rhythm and the first sight reading. The difficult part was the triplet followed by the cord in measure 35. Preparing the arpeggios definitely makes a cleaner sound, I aimed for it but was not consistent all the way through. Although it looks easy I managed to make mistakes in the recording quite easily... but there it is, a challenge is a challenge and it is already Thursday. Thank you so much for your previous comments, so encouraging...
-
Emma wellplayed Emma.
-
Emma Hello Emma, nice played
- and also great video quality .... -
Emma Brava!!!
-
Emma excellent job on the preparation! I still struggle with this technique but am working on it with great advice from Mircea
-
Emma Very nice Emma.
-
Emma Brava! Did you memorize it too?
-
Vilio Celli haha it is very catchy and repetitive. Somehow my short term memory is very good, but it is only short term....
-
-
I read number 7 today and will put up a video. This is my favorite Sor study because it reminds me of the hauntingly beautiful B minor prelude by Chopin. The compound quadruple meter can be difficult to command. The easier aspect is that the key is E minor which obviously suits the guitar
-
I had to make a few edits as this was a little longer piece.
-
David Chidsey Well done, David! I had a look at this one as well, but there were so many 'trouble spots' that I moved on to something easier. Still, it's a lovely study, as your fine performance demonstrates. I'll definitely be returning to it!
-
David Chidsey Nicely played!
-
David Krupka yes agreed! This etude is much more difficult than it looks. It took me an hour to record and edit (mostly the edit because of little things that bothered me with the recording) also my vision is poor so that’s why I’m staring at the music using two screens. But in the end I was satisfied how it turned out :)
-
David Chidsey well played (and edited). This has been on my to do list for a while. I'm hoping to work on it towards the end of the challenge.
-
David Chidsey Hey David, great job !
-
David Chidsey Well done (and I hope that I will find time to record it within the next couple of days for submitting it here, too)
-
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
