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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Beethoven Wo 77 Theme - YouTube
It's difficult for me to find a quiet hour or so to play the piano!
Sorry about the background chatter.
It's a nice melody, quite song like to me...
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Richard George Littlewood Good job! Yes, a vibrant home is very cozy :)
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Richard George Littlewood Well done!
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Richard George Littlewood Nice! You are off to a great start! Delightful playing!
Thank you!
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Hi Richard George Littlewood , great start! Looking forward to more.
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Richard George Littlewood very nice job!
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I am! This piece is nice and gentle so my two girls like listening to it. The Liszt piece was a nightmare to practise. It was too much for them.
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Sept 26: Variation VI and Coda. A few days ago, I posted the fingerings I use in Var VI. They feel pretty good in tempo. I know there's some wrong notes but THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY OUT! Cheers, everyone!
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Monika Tusnady Bravo, Wow!
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Monika Tusnady bravissima! I鈥檓 going to find your fingerings and work on it myself. I love the energy you bring to this piece.
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Gail Starr Thank you! I would love to know how the fingerings sit under your hand. We鈥檒l have house guests as of next Sunday and it would be nice to have a complete recording by then. The bits and pieces help me to clarify where I am going with the piece.
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Monika Tusnady Wow your fingers just flew over those keys . Gorgeous !
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Gail Starr here鈥檚 huge Beethoven energy courtesy of one great pianist: https://youtu.be/TNCGEwPfliY .
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Monika Tusnady That was brilliant!
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Monika Wow! You displayed fantastic speed and energy! Beautiful!
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Monika Tusnady WOW Great virtuosity! Your fingerings are obviously wonderful for you! Thank you for this, great to listen to during the start of my week!
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Monika Tusnady Impressive taking it so fast! I'm working on this and having trouble so will look at your fingerings.
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Hello everyone:
First video of the Beethoven challenge. I have no had time to practice the whole piece.
* Variation you worked on: Theme and I-IV.
* One thing I found easy: Clear melody and harmony.
* One thing I found difficult: to show different ways of play the variations and repetitions.
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Juan Carlos Olite Hi Juan! For some reason I couldn鈥檛 get your link to play?
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Gail Starr Hi Gail! I made a mistake and I have uploaded the video in another post!
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Sorry. Video:
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Juan Carlos Olite Bravo! It sounds as though you channeled Claudio Arrau in that thoughtful and declarative performance. I love the way you gave dynamic interest to the repeats, especially when almost disappeared at the end of a phrase, as in Var. 4. Can鈥檛 wait to hear more!
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Monika Tusnady Thank you, Monika! You are very kind. You make me very happy with this kind of compliments!
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Juan Carlos Olite Amazing !!! Your version was so delightful that I could spend hours commenting on what I liked , Bravo !
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Juan Carlos Olite That was fantastic! Bravo! I really enjoyed how you delt with the repeats. You called it a difficulty, I see what you mean since you probably have worked on it quite a bit, but really it was one of your biggest strengths.
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Thank you very much, Marianne! What a wonderful community of piano lovers!
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