WEEK ONE Updates: Main Thread - The Journey Begins!
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 June 17th - July 8th I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music:
Handel: Chaconne in G major HWV 435
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: 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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8, 9 and 10 again
In 8 I still have problems in bars 4 and 5 moving down the keyboard
and in 9 I still haven´t worked out what is going on in bars 6 and 7.
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HI Richard George Littlewood Yes I had trouble at first with 8 and bars 4/5 until I wrote out a consistent fingering. This might not work for everyone but this is what I ended up with that allows me to play that section at speed, in case you or others find this useful.
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Brett Gilbert I would maybe take the combination 1-3 in the bar 69, instead of 1-2
:)
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Elena Nikitina A good suggestion as that might work much better for some. I tried 3-1 at first but I kept tripping up until I switched to 2-1. At least it worked for my hand a bit better. :)
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Brett Gilbert Hi Brett and Elena. I tried 2 -1 as well at first. I have a weird problem in this bar, I don´t like the sound of my piano here. It sounds harsh. But then it gets stranger, because on the recording it sounds fine, a nice mellow sound. For me, not liking the sound I am hearing makes bar 69 really difficult to play.
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Richard George Littlewood I agree, the fingering is supposed to be your best ally but sometimes it takes you quite a time before you trace the best one.
All we can do is just stay humble and keep on exploring!
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Hello everybody,
my name is Elena, thrilled to be with you for this challenge:))
I’d like to have a try on the whole piece, but of course this intention would go beyond the 3 weeks deadline.
Variation I worked on:
Currently I’m concentrating on the first G major block including Theme and first 8 Variations.
One thing I found easy:
Having played already Baroque music in my conservatory past I am still a huge fan of every Baroque genre, especially of Handel Oratorios. So the music texture is very familiar and difficulty level is also quite comfortable.
One thing I found difficult:
The Theme with its embellishments is a real challenge for me, since it has to be perfectly tailored to the slow tempo.
I wish everybody a lot of enjoyable moments exploring this wonderful piece!
Hear you around:))
Elena Nikitina
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Elena Nikitina Sounds wonderful! Your trills are excellent (a weakness for me and a challenge in this piece). Like you I am working through the first 8 variations which form a nice block. I find 5 and 8 to the most difficult to play at the tempo I'd like. I watched a few other videos online and came across an urtext edition where there are no trills in theme bar 6 and less ornamentation in general. I would be curious to know on what edition the tonebase version is based Dominic Cheli .
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Elena Nikitina I loved your beautiful playing . It sounded so majestic and the embellishments were spot on in my opinion . Like Brett I am also wondering about the edition you used . I’ve played my fair share of Bach and his trills etc seemed easier for me to figure out than this .
I look forward to hearing more
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Brett Gilbert thank you for your flattering comment, in fact in fingering for ornament I mostly use the combinations of 1-3 or 2-4, as they are not tied too tight together and give usually more physical freedom. This is a rule we learned with my classmates during our professional studies.
While playing trills I try to imitate the tipical sound of baroque ensembles with authentic historical instruments which I just adore:))by the way at last got the way they play trills - starting from the higher note and not from the main one:)
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mariannejhampton thank you for your encouraging comment!
As for the version I used the pdf attached to this challenge by Dominic. After that I found a recording of Murray Perahia which I love listening to while heading somewhere around:) his interpretations of Handel are just contagious, very convincing!
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Elena Nikitina very nice Elena. I’m wondering how you settled on your tempo?
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- Variation you worked on: I continued to focus on theme/1-8 for this first week writing out fingering and figuring out my weak spots. I peeked ahead a bit and looks like variations 5-8 might be the most challenging overall.
- One thing you found easy: On the surface it looks simple so I can play through it slowly but...
- One thing you found difficult: Playing at close to the speed I want and hitting all the trills is still not there. It's more of a challenge than I initially thought. My trills and scales are weak.
I had hoped to post a video but not ready yet, plus have to figure out how best to record videos. For me part of the challenge is to try to get as close to performance-ready as I can, as if it was a recital piece. Elena mentioned the Murray Perahia recording and I like his interpretation the best from what I've listened to - a nice light touch. I'm also experimenting with putting a slight emphasize on the 2nd beat of most measures when appropriate, similar to sections of Bach's famous Chaconne in Dm for violin (one of my favorite pieces).
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Brett Gilbert Since Ciaccona is generally a dance genre, it’s very important to emphasise the second bit of a bar, in order to pull out a dance feel of it:)
Shall we dance?...
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Brett Gilbert One of the hardest things I’ve done is post work in progress, so I totally get what you are saying! I am glad I did because tonight I’m posting my hands together finally, but seeing my improvement makes me feel great…and I wouldn’t have it if I hadn’t posted it.
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Elena Nikitina wow! Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Stopping to wipe the sweat from your brow was great…
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Tim our body language reveals usually the struggle we have while working on certain pieces!
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Today I’m going to go on the shadow side in g moll... is there any light of hope?..
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I just downloaded the music. I’ll start practicing this daily. I look forward to learning from everyone
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Here I am sight reading Variations 14 and 15.
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Natale Farrell You have a beautiful sound!
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Ben Laude Thank you!
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