D04 Classical guitar lesson 03

[Marko Räsänen]

I think you play the wrong chord in the Carulli piece in measure 9.

Yes, the 2nd string note should be c# instead of d. It's amazing how one wrong note changed the chord completely, and what's even more amazing is that after that wrong chord, the next one also sounded different (although it was correct)!

In the morin piece the bass note is C# in measure 15, then a C natural in 16. You play natural both times and lose that dramatic walk down in the bass C#, C, B.

Also the first melody note in measure 15 should be a# instead of a. Same as in next measure.

In my opinion the accelerandos and decelerandos were a bit extreme. It sounded like you were constantly switching between a slower and faster tempo, so that if I was asked what was your tempo in BPM's, I couldn't give a straight answer. I think the main reason for that is that you start with an accelerando, which makes me as a listener think that the top tempo you achieve during measure one is your "nominal" tempo, and then the slow down during measure 2 is use of rubato. Then you do the same thing for measures 3 and 4, but for the remaining measures of the first part, you stay at the lower tempo, which sounds like the rubato is going on for really long. All this confusion comes from the fact that the accelerando in the first bar made me think that your nominal tempo is much higher than it really is. Therefore I think it's always important not to modify the tempo during the first couple of measures, so that the listener has time to get "locked in" to your tempo.

Other than that, I think it was really well played!

[EricKatz]

Thanks for your comment, Marko!
It's good having a mistake pointed out, otherwise I would be playing it this way untill eternity.

The feed back about the rubato in Morin's piece is very usefull. I did it on purpose, because the melody goes up and down. There is also no bass note in the first bar, so I wanted it to sound as a free floating melody. For myself I didn't have the idea I was overdoing it, so it's good to know how the listener experiences this.
In fact this was an occassional exeption to my own rules. During the lessons last year, I decided to play the pieces more or less as they are written down. No rubato anymore, because in many cases it was just a way to cover up some technical difficulties or to slow down because the player couldn't realize the necessary speed. I did it myself and I saw also a lot of fellow students cheating themselves this way.

After so many mistakes pointed out by M&M, I will record the Petit Etude again. No more rubato!

[Marko Räsänen]

I agree Eric, that rubato is something that shouldn't be used just to make things easier, but it does have its use, and I don't think you should play Petite Etude completely without, especially as it's not technically very demanding piece. I would suggest that in your re-recording just correct the reading errors, and play the first two bars at standard tempo, and it'll be perfect!

[Catherine Livingston]

Eric,
I don't have anything to add to Marko and Mark's very detailed and helpful feedback. I played a wrong chord in the Carulli piece too
It seems that you are catching up with the lessons quickly. Thank you to Mark and Marko for the detailed comments because they are a benefit to all who are still working on these pieces.
Cat

[Satyajit Kadle]

My submissions.

Carulli, Ferdinando - Prelude opus 114 n°7
[media]https://youtu.be/hDc_TUZ5_Ww[/media]

Paganini, Niccolò - Ghiribizzo n°17 Le Streghe
[media]https://youtu.be/Z79HTn5V4cc[/media]

Ludovic-Alexandre Morin - Petite étude
[media]https://youtu.be/_HO-ltxqFLg[/media]

[Marko Räsänen]

Hi Satyajit,

Well done playing these pieces without nails! I tried playing like that a couple of months ago and found it next to impossible.

Just a couple of quick comments. In Le Streghe I noticed that you played some of the melody notes using 'm' finger alone, i.e. you didn't alternate between i&m. In Petite étude I would allow some more ringing between the adjacent melody notes, i.e. 1st and 2nd quavers, and 3rd and 4th quavers in measures 2, 4, 6 etc, and basically anywhere where it supports the harmonic structure. Then again e.g. the first two notes in bar 14 form a minor 2nd interval, which sounds very dissonant when allowing the notes to ring together, so in there it's important to damp the open string as you play a#.

In my opinion the biggest thing you should work with is to make the melody lines more legato. Especially in Morin's piece, the melody notes sound very disconnected. I'm not sure whether it is because you lift your left hand fingers from frets too early (perhaps because of not enough finger independence), or if you damp with / plant your right hand fingers on strings very early.

Marko

[Satyajit Kadle]

Thanks, Marko. Yes, need to get some more legato going. In Le Streghe, I was caught up with the quick arpeggios which I found demanding enough to keep the alternating fingers in mind.. something I tend to do quite often, on the melody as well as the arpeggio jump between strings. There's more Paganini in the next 2 lessons!

[Catherine Livingston]

Satyajit,

Good job! I enjoyed listening to you submissions. The Carrulli arpeggio sounds fine to me. It is played evenly and I like the slight slowdown at the end to give it a definitive finish. The Paganini piece is coming along well. Marko gave you some useful, specific feedback here. The Morin piece sounds good, but I agree that it can be played more "legato". There is only 1 required Paganini piece in lesson 4 and none in lessons 5 or 6.
Nice work!

Cat

[George Karpenkov]

Hey guys!
I had a lot of work lately, so had to disappear for a couple of months =( but I'm hopefully back.
Here is my last submission - Carulli's opus #114.
[media]https://youtu.be/3kSRyeGd8Uc[/media]

[Marko Räsänen]

Hi George,

You put a rather strong emphasis on the 4th note of each sextuplet. The emphasis should be on the first / bass note alone. In measures 4 and 20 you are playing C major chord instead of A minor chord (the 3rd string should be fretted at 'a', not played open). The webcam audio has a warbled sound, and the video frame is very narrow. It would be nice to see your both hands and hear a better quality audio, but I know it can be difficult, especially if you're on a tight budget.

See you at the next lesson

[Catherine Livingston]

George,

Nice to see you back! No comments to add. How are you recording yourself? Hopefully you will be able to find time to finish the course at your own pace. I am on the slow track with this course now as well due to a finger injury that will take a month or longer to heal. There are some nice pieces in the upcoming lessons to look forward to.
Cat

[thatGingerMojo]

Thank you for sharing this piece