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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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Mid-week update, week 1.
I've been working on the whole piece. Getting the fingerings down, and started memorizing.
What I found easy: I think in general it's a rather easy piece, but none the less enjoyable. It also fit because I'm working on some other more difficult pieces, so it gives the practice session a nice balance.
What I found challenging: I could focus even better. My mind has been wandering a bit too much when practicing, so I feel I can be even more effective in my practice.
I will post my first performance of the piece during the week-end. :)
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I started working on the whole piece, just to get a sense of how the variations connect and contrast with one another.
I found the theme to be very difficult - there's nowhere to hide!
I didn't find anything particularly easy. The more I practice, the more complexity I find.
I'm posting the theme and Variations 1 and 2 today. Excuse the "iPhone on the keyboard" setup: I'm still not fully mobile after knee surgery. Soon, though.
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- Variation I worked on: Thema, No. 1
- One thing I found easy: Simple, ambling theme. Structurally it's clear how variation 1 was formed out of the theme.
- One thing I found difficult: It's tricky adapting this early Beethoven to the modern ear. Counting repeats, the main theme is played 4 times in a row, before appearing again from bars 12-16. I tried playing around with the inner and bass voicing, but there isn't much polyphony to work with in these two sections.