Week 1: Status check! (also pick your piece!)
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 January 23 - 30 I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Here is this week's assignment!
1. Pick your piece!
2. If a new piece, post your sight-reading of it (never hurts to practice this valuable skill!) If it is an old piece, let's try and dust it off, and play through what we can, to evaluate its current condition. Let us know what your "piece status" is!
3. Optional: Tell us WHY you picked this piece that you love so much!
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I’m going to use this challenge to work on Rach 2 — the back half of the first movement.
Why did I choose this? Because it’s the GOAT! I learned the front half a while back but got distracted by other things. I’d now like to use this challenge to learn the recap and coda properly.
I’ll be traveling a lot and will really only have about 10 days or so to practice over the next few weeks, but I’ll take it!
Here is a tortured reading of the recap section all the way to the end. It's not great, but it's the state of things today. When un-butchered, it’s one of the greatest lyrical passages of all time.
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Tammy That's beautiful, Tammy. Really something special. Looking forward to hearing it's final work. :)
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Tammy Wow, love this! I am in love with this piece too and hearing this is making me want to try to learn it too :) Thanks for posting your work-in-progress -- I can tell it'll be great!
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Tammy Beautiful! Looking forward to hear your progress. This concert is beyond amazing!
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Tammy You already convey the soul of this extraordinary masterpiece, even if there are bits that need work.
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I have gone back and forth on what I would like to play for this challenge. I really wanted to play one of Mussorgsky's short pieces (Meditation, or Une Larme), but they are more of a reach than I can reasonably do right now. So, I'll go to my second love: "Fiddler on the Roof." I'm not yet certain which song I will play from this musical - I initially pulled out "Sunrise, Sunset," but it has some small technical challenges that make it too much for me (though my son played it beautifully on a sight-read this morning). I'll post by the end of the week with a firm choice and initial run-through.
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Michelle R LOVE IT ... you know, Mahalia Jackson has a wonderful recording of Sunrise, Sunset that I think you might enjoy :) Looking forward!!
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Will Green Thanks, Will!
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Michelle R Can't wait to hear your interpretation! One of my favorite musicals! Did you transcribe a version yourself or are you using one that already exists?
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Gail Starr Thanks, Gail! I found a super-easy transcription, and am adapting it a bit. Playing it makes me happy (as I sing along to myself!).
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Michelle R Sing along in your recording, too!
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Michelle R Sing along on the video, too! Why not?
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Gail Starr haha! I never realized how difficult it was to sing and play at the same time, since people who do it make it look so easy! I could probably sing dibby-dibby-do or yabba-dabba-do while playing, but singing words that make sense?? I'm not quite there.
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Michelle R I have never even tried to sing and play at the same time! I’ll give it a shot after dinner and let you know.
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Michelle R it's a fun idea to sing along! After that, just playing will be ever so simple!
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Here is a quick video of the beginning of "If I Were a Rich Man" and the theme from Fiddler on the Roof - the plan is to do a short/simple medly of the two. Gail Starr , just for you I quietly sing along at the beginning. If I belt it out, I totally lose my ability to play!!
I chose this because when I was a teen, and saw the movie for the first time, I was entranced by this man, on screen, walking around talking to God as if He were right there. It made me feel, for probably the first time, not quite so odd!! And the music! The music etched itself into my soul.
Everyone else's playing is so amazing - my playing is not so amazing, since I'm just beginning. But there is no where to go but up from here, right?
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Michelle R I’m amazed when anyone can play and sing (or even speak) at the same time. For me, playing seems to hijack my language/speech center so I am totally incapable of forming speech (aside from a two word subvocal self instruction about how to play). I wonder if other people have the same experience.
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Michelle R You are totally getting the hang of it! Even with the singing! And you are right, we ALL have to be beginners at the beginning.
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Gail Starr Thanks, Gail. I have to remind myself that I'm at the beginning of this musical journey. All of the amazing pianists on Tonebase inspire me to continue learning.
Michael Yes, I think it's normal for singing (speaking) while playing to be challenging. I'm not sure of the neuroscience behind it, but I would bet there is some science that can explain it. My son's new teacher asked him to count aloud during something he was playing last week, and it threw him completely off. Just like anything else, I suspect it is a skill that must be learned!
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Michelle R believe me, I'm no neuroscientist. But I suspect that for some people, those portions of the brain that handle hearing, the interpretation of sounds and parsing of them into language, are busied by the playing of music, and thence become less available for language. I'd guess that once the playing of a piece has been committed to memory, the physical actions can be maintained by a separate portion of the brain (cerebellum, basal ganglia --to be nerdy), freeing up the language centers (left frontal and temporal lobes).
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Michael When Dominic was working with us on technical studies, I think he said something about being able to hold a conversation while playing being a great skill to try!
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Gail Starr I think he can do that partly because he is brilliant.
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Michael so true!
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Michael Yes, you're probably right. And I love being nerdy - when my husband was going through medical school, I helped him study. My two favorite subjects (of his!) were pharmacology and neurology. It was so long ago, that I've forgotten almost everything from those study sessions. Thankfully, he hasn't!
And I concur with you and Gail Starr regarding the brilliance of Dominic.
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Michelle R MICHELLE this is incredible!! I LOVE IT!!!!
Being rich in Spirit, pays off.. no?? :-) XXXXX GOD BLESS YOU !!! +
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