Andantino in C by Matteo Carcassi

I shall finally present to you my first guitar piece; it has taken me so long since I spent too little time practicing, and I greatly regret that. Let me tell you a little bit about the writer: Carcassi was an Italian composer and guitarist who gained the reputation of a virtuoso player soon after his career commenced; his music is still popular nowadays among many classic-style guitarists, which partially explains why I was given one of his works. Another reason as to why I received this andantino is that it is relatively easy to play, and is intended for me to recap the techniques that I've learnt a few years ago as it requires the usage of legato and has a distinct melody that should be emphasised by the player.

As you can easily tell from watching the video, I was concentrating far too much on the technical aspect of the piece to pay any attention to the melody which I was supposed to highlight. I had a few slips here and there as I was unable to prolong the legato for long enough to achieve a clean transition from one interval to another; at times I also took longer than I should have preparing to play the following interval, as for example in the very end, when I ended up waiting for much longer than was signified in the notes. The tempo in itself was also a bit dodgy as at times I spontaneously either increased it or slowed it down. I had a few strings vibrate as I didn't apply enough pressure on my left hand to produce the desired sound.

My main aim in general is going to be to improve my technical abilities by, for example, playing scales much more often, since then I would be able to concentrate more on the music itself as opposed to which finger I should use and how I should place it; I could also achieve that by repeatedly playing   the piece in a slow tempo, paying great attention to every single note. Furthermore, I will try to develop my legato skill so that I could create an undisrupted, flowing melody. This andantino in particular required a few quite uncomfortable changeovers, which is why next time I will practice them separately so that I would no longer worry about them once I'll be performing the piece fully.