WEEK ONE Updates: Main Thread - What a delightful theme Beethoven wrote!
Hello and welcome to the WEEK ONE Main Thread for this challenge! 
Alright everyone - 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 September 20th - 27th I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music:
Beethoven: 6 Variations on an Original Theme
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Variation you worked on:
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
Sample daily update:
- Variation you worked on: No. 1
- One thing you found easy: Learning the notes, and rhythms were rather straight-forward, and not challenging!
- One thing you found difficult: Shifting the Hands was a bit tricky to get smooth!
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
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Sorry. Video:
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Sindre Skarelven Thank you very much, Sindre! Yes, I wanted to look for contrasts between variations and its repetitions, but I am not sure yet... I'll try to work more on it for the next video.
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mariannejhampton Thank you very much, Marianne! What a wonderful community of piano lovers!
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Juan Carlos I really appreciated your variety of touch and expression between the movements as well as the repeats. So impressed you have memorized so much already!
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Juan Carlos Olite Absolutely wonderful playing! So well-thought out, and I love how you bring out the articulations/details so clearly. This is amazing work for so quickly! Thank you!!! Can't wait to hear the whole piece!
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Dear Juan Carlos Olite , congratulations!! You did a great job and I love listening to this piece with the repeats (as it is supposed to be). I also appreciated the level of technical detail and the expressiveness of your performance. If this is just the beginning, I cannot wait to see the final version!!!! Cheers!
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Juan Carlos Olite What a wonderful personality you give to each variation, and I especially like how your pedal work changes for the repeats. Your minor variation had just the right amount of "spooky" quality and thoughtfulness. AND...you and Sindre Skarelven are masters of memorization!
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Susan Thank you very much, Susan!
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Dominic Cheli Thank you so much, Dominic! I really appreciate you generous words.
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João Dias da Silva Thank you, Joao! I'll try to prepare as well as I can the final version!
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Gail Starr Thank you so much, Gail! But I have not used the soft pedal, in fact I would like very much to use it! It is a problem of habits. As Dominic said we definitely should use it much more.
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Juan Carlos Olite Well, whatever you are doing to get a softer, more velvet sound in your repeats is working perfectly...even if it isn't the soft pedal!
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Juan Carlos Olite Sound great, I'm still amazed you can memorize so quickly.
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Brett Gilbert Thank you, Brett. Really, it's only a matter of habit.
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Juan Carlos Olite absolutely! try out that pedal more. For me, I call it the “Left pedal” since it doesn’t so much make the sound “soft” as it opens up the door to many new colors! It DOES make soft playing easier though!
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Dominic Cheli Ok, Dominic, I'll try to learn to use it. Thank you!
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I worked on theme and variations 1 and 2.
what I found difficult: making the videos. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.What I found easy: the theme and var. 1 are not complicated and are fun to practice because they’re engaging and amiable.
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Variation 1
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Susan Enjoyed your videos , I think a engaging and amiable are very good ways to describe them .
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Susan you have an amiable way of playing!
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mariannejhampton thank you Marianne!
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Monika Tusnady Thank you Monika!
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Susan Very nice! Yes, it's very fun with the switching octaves and enjoyable melody!
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Sindre thanks! Yes, very fun. :)
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Susan Wonderful playing! You have a wonderful ease of feeling in this variation. Looking forward to hearing more!
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Susan Sounds great - nice tone and very even.
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