WEEK TWO Updates: Main Thread - Beethoven a master of Variation!
Hello and welcome to the WEEK TWO 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 27 - October 4th 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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Sept 30, 2021
Since yesterday's (very wordy) post is still pending review, here's another from this morning.
Variation: all
One thing I found easy: I'm beginning to understand what is truly unique and interesting about every variation.
One thing I found difficult: getting dynamic variations just right. And, of course, memorizing, especially the phrase endings that are similar enough between variations to be confusing.
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Monika Tusnady A great version of the whole piece there! You bring out the character in each variation. Brava!
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Monika Tusnady Amazing performance Monika Tusnady !
Clear articulation, played with style. loving it. -
Monika Tusnady Wow , that was wonderful and memorized ! I get what you mean about the cadences as everyone is just slightly different . We had a nursery rhyme in the UK called 3 blind mice and I keep hearing that while I’m playing the piece . Wonder if you know what I’m talking about ?
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Brett Gilbert re: Tempo. Have you listened to Glenn Glould’s performance of the 32 variations in c minor? Even just the theme is beyond belief. Boldness and experimentation are good habits to have, and I admire those who have nurtured them in their musical lives.
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mariannejhampton Three Blind Mice - that is absolutely hilarious! Now that you’ve mentioned it, we will all be blind mice-ing the cadences!
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Daniel Chong thank you!!!! I’m loving group learning and have found the process absolutely transformative.
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Sindre Skarelven thank you! Can you believe the diverse learning paths we all take? Yours (speed-memorizing - you do that like an Olympic sport, WOW!) and mine (loving that score) are polar opposites yet we are heading toward the same goal. I don’t know of a better way to learn about others’ learning process than this platform.
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Monika Tusnady Yes, I love the c minor variations and Gould's performance is amazing. Tonebase had a great livestream on this a few months ago that was really interesting: https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/rodolfo-leone-beethoven-32-variations
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Brett Gilbert thank you for that! The depth and breadth of TONEBASE is amazing, isn’t it?
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Monika Tusnady Is that a cardinal sitting on your piano keys ?
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mariannejhampton yes, thank you for noticing him. Frank matches the piano, doesn’t he? Now if you are a bird lover, too, we are completely…birds of a feather!
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Monika Tusnady I love birds but my husband is the one that takes care of them ! It’s become his hobby !
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Monika Tusnady beautiful! I love your style and the character you bring - and such clean playing as well! Wonderful accomplishment!
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Monika Tusnady Your style and body language is so expressive.
The music is both elegant and beautiful. -
Susan Daniel Chong thank you! Positive and specific comments such as yours spur me on in my thinking and bring about new insights into the seemingly infinite possibilities of these variations!
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Monika Tusnady Great performance! Loving all of your videos! Thank you for them!
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(165) Beethoven Wo 77 1st var. - YouTube
1st Variation.
Difficult: playing the triplets with the double notes in bar 3 and 4. I think you have to play them softly.
The rest was not so difficult. It's a beautiful melody.
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Richard George Littlewood Well done, Richard! You always write to appreciatively about the music and I can feel your love for it! You really have the double note triplets in m. 3 and 4: maybe lift your hand when your'e done playing them?
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Monika Tusnady Thank you Monika. Yes I was trying that, moving the hand towards the piano and up, it produces a lighter sound. My technique is well behind the others here on Tonebase and yours. But I am improving doing these challenges.
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Richard George Littlewood Well done, Richard! I agree with Monika words!
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Juan Carlos Olite Thanks Juan Carlos. Where are you, by the way, in Spain? I live in Malaga, and teach English here.
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Richard George Littlewood Making great progress, sounds good! Yes, I agree the little 3 note phrases should be played delicately.
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Richard George Littlewood O MY GOODNESS! That sounds like a wonderful life! I’m just up the road (!) in MENTON! And Sindre in Oslo! We could play two pianos, eight hands.
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Monika Tusnady I looked you up in Google Maps and it is just up the motorway. But that would be a long drive! You live in a nice part of the world as well!
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Richard George Littlewood I live in Zaragoza. Málaga! Very nice city and environment!
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