Week 2: Status Update and one NEW improvement!
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 August 7th - 14th I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Here is this week's assignment!
1. Let us know what status your "Unfinished Business" piece is at!
2. No matter what, let's focus this week on ONE NEW improvement for your piece!
3. Optional: post a video of your update, and work!
-
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the comments from last week! I have pulled back the tempo a little bit and tried to focus on letting the left hand control the piece a little more. I still have to get some grasp on the two of the most tricky parts of the waltz (right after where this clip ends and the finale) and that will be my focus for the next week...
All the best
-
Derek McConville I started smiling just a few measures in - such a delighful piece, and I do enjoy the way you play it, Derek. Looking forward to hearing more!
-
Derek McConville Lovely playing! Your enjoyment of this piece is coming through.
-
Derek McConville agree with the above comments; also, you often get the Viennese waltz rhythm with its subtle stretches, delays, and forward rushes just right! Very nice.
-
Derek McConville Great! Sounds much better. Do you have a teacher or you are learning all by yourself?
-
Derek McConville Great playing, Derek! I really enjoy the elegance of that middle section, and when you bring out those underlaying voices.
-
Derek McConville Beautiful!
-
-
Can I just say how impressed I am by what a wonderfully supportive community this is? If we work on one hand or two hands separately for a week, we can post a video and people listen to it intently and critique it lovingly. Same for practicing a piece well below tempo, in different practice patterns etc. - everything is taken seriously for what it is and is rewarded with helpful comments. I mean, I'm still new to this whole tonebase thing, but I'm pretty blown away.
-
Alexander Weymann Your absolutely right.
-
Alexander Weymann We are SO lucky that you're part of Tonebase, Alex. Your insightful comments add so much amazing information and support.
-
Alexander Weymann My son, just a few months after beginning piano lessons in 2020, found Tonebase through some of the YouTube videos and a membership was a gift to him that year. He's not on here much anymore (though you'll see him at the community concerts) because he has so many other things going on. But the people here are wonderful, supportive, encouraging - so I have my own membership now, too, since I need support and encouragement as I learn to play.
It's great to have you with us!
-
Alexander Weymann This is the first time that I participate in an activity of Tonebase, and I must say that I am very impressed by the support you give each other. This is really great to see!
-
Gail Starr Michelle R thank you both for your very kind words! I'm incredibly grateful to have found tonebase and to have discovered that beyond all those wonderful lessons by professional musicians there's also this interactive forum for a passionate community of music lovers. Truly, a gift - and, alas! also something that's having me spend so many hours practicing that they're getting hard to justify for someone who needs to still pay attention to his day job.
-
Alexander Weymann You have a very important day job, so it’s nice to have piano to decompress a bit at the end of the day. When I was travelling for my job, I rarely had time for piano so I understand the frustration at the lack of time.
-
Alexander Weymann Yes, this just happens to be the best and most piano loving community in the world!
-
-
Hi everyone! How i said. You all inspired me that much, so I almost finished the other Nocturne op48/1 too. Still need some practicing on the octaves and the last part and put it together as one piece. Have a nice week. https://youtu.be/WXQ4jfgXG4I
-
Kerstin Amazing to hear the differences in our interpretation of the piece! You control the tone in the doppio movimento section pretty well ... I like it :)
-
Priya Viseskul Thanks. You want to play the whole piece next week?
-
Kerstin I hope to ... though getting a recording this weekend may be a bit tricky as I have a relative coming over ... still, I will give it a try :)
-
-
Hello everyone, I finally found the time to record myself today. I feel much better now when playing this last part of the Polonaise-Fantaisie, but I’ve also realized that I cannot increase the tempo anymore or I will lose the feeling of having solid contact with the keys. There are still some issues I need to work on in this part (for example the endings of the double trills are still not “clean”), but it has been a busy week with family and holiday activities. The most important thing is that I have the impression that I have some kind of improvement every time when I work on this piece.
-
Ursina Boehm Very beautiful! Wow! Thank you.
-
Jennifer Mehta thank you
! Still a lot of work! -
Ursina Boehm oh, me too!!!!
-
-
Greetings everyone! I apologize, I haven't been able to practice quite as much as I would like, but here is the "Out of the Mist" portion as it is now for Debussy's "Sunken Cathedral". I am so thankful for this challenge to bring me back to serious practicing in a busy life. Thank you.
I am hearing so much more in this piece than 5-6 years ago when I first "learned" it. Haha. There is a beautiful interplay of musical themes throughout the piece. There are 2 that recur in various places:
#1: https://youtu.be/tduqkjN2Zq4
#2: https://youtu.be/pGwDUMdD2YM
I love how Debussy paints a picture with his music. I see the initial opening section as the mist surrounding the cathedral. Then you hear these octave "E"s, bringing in other chime like notes around them. As if it is the bells calling the worshippers. The next section "Out of the Mist" is the cathedral appearing out of the mist, with water dripping off to it, leading to the first climax. It then gets very quiet again, almost as if the hush inside the cathedral, the crescendos to ff, could this be the worship time? It then goes back to one of the themes, and very quietly, as it sinks back into the mist. At least, this is how I picture it, and how I am trying to play it. Stay tuned!
-
Jennifer Mehta this is so beautiful! When listening to you, I at once see those images that I used when learning this piece myself. I very much look forward to your next recording
-
Ursina Boehm Thank you so much Ursina! When I first learned this, I never saw these themes, or thought much about the imagery. This challenge has been so good for me to take this to another level. I want to continue working on this as I see and hear more in it. Thank you!
-
