Lesson with Simon Thacker+extra hours

Hi there, another two hours with great Simon went well. It is unbelievable how those two hours passed so quickly. In my view, we made ​​a lot of work today. For instance: Nails shape+how to produce the best tone Rhytmical excercises (introduction ,,Konokol'') Rasquado secret Tremolo ( speed burst + metronome excercises) Johhan Kaspar Mertz Liebeslied Problems: bring up melody line (one of the most important requirements for this kind of piece is to separate melody form harmony. By that I mean,melody has to be played louder than harmony. This can by achieved by technique called voicing. tone quality (pure sweet tones are required for this piece) volume ( Simon always wants me to play louder)

Edinburgh Society of Musicians- concert tonight

Hi there, well, I have been invited on students concert which was organised by Simon Thacker. What disappointing, when I did not find a place where the concert was. Honestly, I was looking forward to seeing other students from university. What shame.........

improvisation class

Hi there, Simon gave us an opportunity to compose our own jazz pieces last week. The task was to create a new tune for already exist pieces.Therefore a new tunes were mostly based on compositions which we played some time ago. Well, I have to say that new compositions were very well written.

Lesson with Simon

Hi there, we started work on new piece called Liebesbriefe(the German word Liebesbriefe means Love letter). The piece was written by one of my favorite composer Johann Kaspar Mertz. In my view, it is not technically demanding piece. However, the romantic piece evokes deepest feelings and therefore it is requires attention on interpretation. According to Simon I will have to work more on voicing( highlight melody line) as well on dynamics. How to interpret an perform 19th century music is nicely explained and demonstrated by Alice Artzt. For instance, one of the most important thing is to bring up the melodic line. This is a crucial in music of 19th century because expressing melody was one of the main features of this period.

Biotin

Hi there, recently i have lost two of my beautiful nails. Honestly, for a classical guitarists does not exist nothing worse then lose nails. Therefore, i did research about how to make nails to growing faster and I have found the cure. Biotin also known as vitamin H is necessary for cell grow and therefore it helps to faster growth.

Holiday

Hi there, Although, we have a academic holiday I will have to spent all week in college anyway. My target is to finish composition this week.

improvisation class

Hi there, well, we started to work on a brand new piece called Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock. Although, it is lovely piece, it is much harder than the previous one. By that I mean, it is required much more knowledge about scales such as F dorian, Db mixolydian. I have only one suggestion, learn those scales and try to apply it with backing tracks.

quartet reheasal

Hi there, as usually, we played La Boda by Torroba. This time we tried to increase tempo as well as add dynamics.

Concert in Stevenson college

Hi there, I was absolutely astonished by violoncellist and pianist who performed in Stevenson College today. Honestly, I did not expect such as excellent performance and profiency from them. The Mozart's and Stravinsky's compositions, which are considered as the most technical demanding pieces, were played extremely well.

lesson with Simon Thacker+extra hour

Hi there, it was truly two an exhausting hours:) First hour: Barrios waltz no.3 I have always thought that I have learnt this piece really well. However, I did not. Although, on the technical side I am able to play it really well, to express the feelings of the piece is not as good as I have thought. According to Simon I will have to work much harder on that. For instance, improve voicing( highlight one note from other). Second hour: Homenage According to Simon I did significant improvement for last couple weeks which is awesome. However, still not good enough. I will have to work on triplets (rhythmical variation)

recording practice

Hi there, together with Lozinka we trained recording techniques for coming exam. Well, I have to admit that it was more her idea rather then mine.Although, there were a few problems such as headphones set up or compressor set up, we always found a way how to solve it. Thanks to Dot who gave us an opportunity to practise in recording studio.

Hi there, we rehearsed as a last time a standard jazz piece called,,Take a train'' by Billy Strayhorn. We tried to improve overall performance as well as solo improvisation.As usually,everyone had an opportunity to improvise while others played a main tune.