Week 3 Thread: Galant Style for Galant People 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of "Mozart & Haydn - Music from the 18th Century" challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- click)
This week, we will talk about the several strategies you can implement in your memorization as a general learning habit. What strategies can you use to memorize a piece of music better and faster?
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Think about how you memorize things different than music and about how you would remember something: what does usually work for you?
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What changes could you implement?
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Try to challenge yourself and use one of the strategies to memorize at least one section of the piece you are studying and if, you are brave, post a video clip of the results.
Pick a piece from the suggested repertoire according to your level or share any piece written during the 18th century that you have been working on!
If you want to describe your process, feel free to use the following template.
- Piece(s) you have been working on:
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
Happy sharing 
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Well I know it’s not perfect, but if I don’t upload something soon nobody will think I’m actually doing this challenge! It has been a challenge to memorise the first two pages of the sonata, I am working on memorising the whole movement but as I said I felt I needed to upload something.
Very impressed with other peoples work!
Mine is far from perfect and listening back oh Deary me what a lot of work there is to do! So, I’m hoping at this stage next week to upload the entire movt from memory in a more polished form. Something that really made me think is Antonella’s idea about meditating before practice, and so starting with a clearer mind.
I always dash in and get going so I am trying this different approach, even if only for a few minutes.
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Angela Fogg Beautiful playing! Of course every piece can always be better, but we do not need to be too hard on ourselves. Meditating is a good way to get rid of any kind of thought or worry that might prevent you from actually doing what you wanted to do. I am glad the suggestion helped. I have my best ideas after or during a relaxing time.
I think you are on the right path to self-improvement :) At the very end, each one of us is on an individual journey.
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Angela Fogg Sounds beautiful and great memorization too! I was thinking about Antonella’s meditate before playing idea too before my last recording. It seems like a simple idea but so helpful. I am always balancing many things and squeezing in piano practice or tired at the end of the day by the time I get to the piano. Will keep working on this before playing.
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Angela Fogg Brava Angela! Fantastic playing! I love the cheerful spirit that comes across in the music. Beautiful trills.
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Andrea Buckland thank you Andrea!
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Vidhya Bashyam I recognise that, squeezing in practice between other things! Thank you!
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Antonella Di Giulio thank you Antonella. Thoroughly enjoying your lectures.
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Angela Fogg thank you!
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Angela Fogg Beautiful playing, Angela! So glad you are posting before you consider it “perfect”. This is a beautiful sonata, and it’s brightening my day to hear it :) Your ornamentation is very good! Also like your point about meditation before practicing. I too like to have a calm mind before practicing, witch is very helpful.
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Angela Fogg great job with your memory work and you sound great. thank you for posting!
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Sindre Skarelven Thank you Sindre!
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Susan Rogers Thank you Susan!
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Angela Fogg Great playing, Angela! I think like Andrea, cheerful and happy spirit.
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Juan Carlos Olite Thank you Juan!
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Here is the second movement and the beginning of the 3rd, memorized.
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Thurmond R Very good! Beautiful job with the memorization.
If I might suggest you something, I would like to see your posture leaning a bit more in the center: I have the feeling you tend to lean back :)
And the second suggestion is to play the fast movements or fast sections a bit slower at first. Play those parts as beautifully as you can at a slow tempo and then speed up to as much as you feel comfortable at that point.
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Antonella Di Giulio Thank you! I do naturally lean back; I have found that putting my left foot on the bench makes it easier to play.
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Thurmond R Maybe you could give it a try.... try to sit on the piano bench without playing and relax in there while focusing on just sinking into the bench and into the ground. and then try to play from that position :) You can always go back and play like you were doing before if you do not like the feeling, but being relaxed has a lot to do with how we move our fingers on the piano as well.
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Thurmond R Sounds great!
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Thurmond R you're very good at memorising!
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Thurmond R Great job, Thurmond!
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Great choice of sonata, I so nearly did this one for this project but decided not to play something I’d played before and learn something from scratch. Love the intensity of the second movement! Great memorisation!
