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 choose Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue op. 87 no. 7
I first heard this piece when I was 16 and love it esp the fugue - so pretty and joyful - not something you normally associate with Shostakovich's music. I found this piece again recently through my work colleague who suggested the opus when I was pondering what to learn next.
I have already planned to learn the piece this year so taking the opportunity to kick it off. Starting with the fugue - which I already feel pretty challenged in working out the fingering and rhythmically playing both hands esp when 3rd voice enters. It's definitely not one I can sight read and it's not going to be a quick one to learn but let's just see how far three weeks can take me.
I also find doing this challenge itself poses another challenge of sharing and embracing the piece in-progress with all its blemishes ... This is me at day 3 for the first 20 bars.
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Priya Viseskul Fabulous! Daniil is SUCH a dramatic contrast. I hadn't heard his before. Thank you so much!
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Michael sure you can in this lifetime!
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Michael hahaha I just came across this one also this morning! love it! :)
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Michael Thank you so much for sharing these. it is amazing to me how all 4 of the pianists I have listened to for Priya 's selection give such starkly different Impressions of these gems. I gotta try some! Maybe next challenge. (I'm just starting my own tonight...WAY behind schedule, LOL!)
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Priya Viseskul Definitely in this lifetime. Just take good care of yourself!
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Gail Starr and Priya Viseskul I just rummaged through a box of random, uninspected piano scores that I bought at an estate sale about 6 years ago, and I discovered this:
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Michael Amazing! That's the universe telling you to give it a go ;)
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Priya Viseskul I shall have to consult Will Green on the cosmological significance of this portent.
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Michael I would take it as a sign..
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Michael Wow! You ended up with a great box of stuff.
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Michael Will Green will know!
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Priya Viseskul I like Tatiana's interpretation for the Bach little preludes! Especially BWV999 which she plays slowly a very different approach vs most other pianists.
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Priya Viseskul What a curious and engaging piece, Priya! Thank you for sharing it, we should play more Shostakovich.
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Here is my second post of the week https://youtu.be/NLz9NDGQxCA
Note to self: Bring out the prominent voice more clearly, and don't rush!
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Priya Viseskul Congrats! I hear so much progress! Love the character you鈥檙e able to convey. Really cool piece.
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Hello Everyone. Looking forward to my 2nd community challenge. I have chosen R. Schumann Romance, Op. 28, No. 2. This is one of my all time favorite pieces and a perfect piece for Valentine's Day. I love how the melody is in the middle voices, while being surrounded by the beautiful outside voices.
I have played it in the past, so my goal for this challenge is to memorize it. The piece is in F# Major and is written on three staffs, so it's easy to lose my place in the music and also get lost in all the sharps! Hoping that memorizing it will open up new opportunities for expression.
Here is a video of my dust-off: https://youtu.be/Gw_cTngBoy4
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Amy Beautiful piece!
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Amy I鈥檓 thrilled you chose this piece, because I think it鈥檚 one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for piano (or any other instrument). I鈥檓 not skilled enough to play it yet, but it鈥檚 high on my bucket list. Am very much looking forward to hearing you develop it over the coming weeks!
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Amy Such a nice piece. Thanks for that.
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Amy What gorgeous, lush sonorities! You sound wonderful already. Very little dusting required!
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Amy beautiful!
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Amy Your piano has beautiful tones. What kind is it? I find Schumann music very hard/tricky to play, only played a few in the album for the young. Looking forward to see your final video!
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Amy that is a wonderful choice, sounds very warm!
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ALICE Thank you! I have a Shigeru Kawai SK6. I bought it in 2012 after an extensive search for a grand piano. I absolutely love it!
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I would like to try chopin nocturne C Sharp minor. I just learned the piece and want to get it memorized and work on session that are still shaky.
