Week 3: The final dance of the Soirees!
I am so impressed by the hard work, and determination that you all have for this piece! Extremely admirable work from everyone, and THANK YOU for sharing your videos with all of us! This is the final week of the challenge so keep it up! A watch party will be happening next week :)
If you need some help with the piece, check out a livestream that goes INDEPTH with this piece!
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/liszt-schubert-community-challenge-indepth
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 August 30th - September 6th I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music:
Download a CLEAN Copy of the score
Liszt's: Soirees De Vienne No.6
Download a score with section numbers for managing your practice!
Liszt's: Soirees De Vienne No.6
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Section you worked on:
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
Sample daily update:
- Section 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: Playing the trills/ornaments in an elegant way was what challenged me the most.
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
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This has been amazing ! I have loved listening to everyone . Thank you !
I wonât bore you all with a video but I have been able to memorize (still shaky) the first waltz using Dominicâs memorization techniques . This is an achievement for me as I havenât been able to memorize any music since childhood and Iâm as old as dirt ! This memory stuff has been like a new toy for me , better than doing the crossword or playing some game on the phone ! Thanks Dominic !
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mariannejhampton Great! I think it is a question of starting to practice with this goal in mind. A few bars, only a phrase and then another, and another... I am sure that you will be surprise of how you memorize more and more.
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Brett Gilbert Thank you . I was so pleased with myself yesterday but today when I tried to video I kept getting mixed up when playing the second part of the waltz . However , I really havenât tried that hard to learn it and only started to memorize on Thursday . I think that singing it while looking at the score really helped (until my husband called out from the other room to see if I was feeling okay !!! ) I also worked on naming the chords etc ! Been busy today , will attempt to remedy my mistakes and video as soon as I can ! I swear if I can do it anyone can do it !
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Sindre Skarelven Thank you Sindre . Itâs not quite there yet. I had it in my brain Sunday but today I had some problems . Iâm going to try and study tonight as this would be a good goal for me. You did such a beautiful job with the the SoirĂ©es , still amazed at how quickly you learned it
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Gail Starr Thank you Gail , I found itâs not quite memorized all the way . I will work on it some more
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Juan Carlos Olite Thank you . I think you definitely have a point there about taking a little at a time. Iâve never taken a theory course since high school but I was able to figure out the chords which helped . I also think that the waltz is a lot easier to memorize than some music . So many repeated patterns , sometimes with just an added note or two !
You memorized and played so beautifully the other day , I checked out your post in the âWelcome Forumâ and was wondering where you get the time to practice ? -
mariannejhampton Well, I didn't write a post in the "Welcome Forum" (I should do it...), perhaps you are referring to the profile. Anyway, in August I was in summer holidays, so I had time to practice (two hours a day, more or less), but now I returned to my work (I teach Philosophy in a High School). So, I'll try to play as much as I can, but it is not easy to do more than one hour a day... More ideas about memorization: I love playing Bach above other composers and I think that to be in the habit of playing Bach by heart is an extraordinary exercise to the mind. If you play Bach by heart, you'll find easier to memorize others pieces of music (waltzes and so on). If I have only twenty minutes to play, I play Bach.
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Juan Carlos Olite Yes , I must have been referring to your profile , it gave me a pretty good idea that you were busy !
I think that if I had to chose I would say that Bach is my favorite composer . His works seem like puzzles to me and I enjoy finding the different voices and then adding my own touch to his music with articulation, embellishments and tempo . Iâm never bored with a Bach piece.
I am still working on memorizing the waltz but itâs still not right . Still , I feel thereâs hope for my memory !
I look forward to hearing more of you in the upcoming challenges . Take care .
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mariannejhampton So happy that you were able to improve your memorization of these piece through my masterclass on the topic! Now of course, it doesn't happen overnight, but the more you apply these skills and memorization techniques, the better/easier it will get! You can do it!! I am just so happy to see you getting out of your comfort zone and working hard! Thats GREAT!
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Dominic Cheli Thank you for all your help and encouragement ! Working on memorization with your tips has certainly helped and Iâm going to keep trying !
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Hi Guys! This is practice video for sections 1-4 of the Liszt. Dominic and Jeffrey Biegel had really useful pointers on how to fix my octaves, but looks like I need spend more time on them.
Here's my "in process" video so far. I love hearing everyone and enjoyed participating in my first challenge. Without you guys, I'm not sure I would have been motivated to start practicing again after so long!
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Gail Starr Beautiful job! The octaves were excellent - clean and light, and I loved your interpretation in section 4.
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Gail Starr Nice playing! With the suitable Viennese spirit! I like it!
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Brett Gilbert Thank you so much!
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Juan Carlos Olite
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Gail Starr Great idea to just memorize tiny bits and add on!
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Gail Starr Thank you!
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Gail Starr Well done Gail! You have a very good technic! As Juan Carlos said, a very suitable spirited performance. I enjoyed listening :)
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Sindre Skarelven Takk skal du ha! Iâm learning so much. Canât wait for the next piece, although I will continue to work on the Liszt.
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Gail Starr That was wonderful , loved listening to you and you did such a good job ( surely you havenât just started practicing again ?). I look forward to hearing you in future challenges !
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mariannejhampton I never stopped sight-reading chamber music with friends, but I hadn't learned any solo repertoire in decades. And I never had time to practice until very recently. There's SO much great content here on Tonebase, I'm like a kid in a candy shop!
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Nice playing Gail. Section 2 was lovely, and section 4 very good.
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Gail Starr I agree with you , Tonebase is such an inspiration for me and I have loved hearing everyone play . Iâve tried to memorize before but not successfully , probably because I wasnât taught how to memorize Iâm still working on the first waltz but unfortunately things have been busy recently.
Hope you get to play and memorize some solo repertoire real soon. -
Gail Starr Wonderful playing! You do indeed have a great fluidity to your playing! Thanks a lot for sharing!
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This was a great experience--to learn something in a group and to watch everyone else working on the same piece!
I found the triplet sections difficult, particularly to make sure they sound well articulated. Also, memorization is always a challenge. I did manage to memorize the whole thing, and even though self-recording is new to me, I managed to figure out how to make a recording and I'm super happy with it, even with finger slips and memory slips and apparently a YouTube copyright claim? (Anyone know what to do about that??)
Oh, also... the first thing I did when Dominic announced this piece was to listen to recordings of it. I found the recording done by Horowitz just captivated me. He adds his own little cadenza at the end, so I wanted to play the same kind of cadenza at the end of my version.
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Matt What a great idea to add the Horowitz cadenza at the end, sounds very appropriate. Very good job and nice playing, Matt! I don't know how to manage what you say about Youtube, I didn't have problems at all with my videos...
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