Week 3: Keep the Momentum
By now, the challenge is getting real!
You’ve chosen your piece, spent time with it, and hopefully started to hear it take shape. But this is also the point where things can get hard. The easy excitement of beginning fades a little, and you’re left with the more important part: staying with it.
That’s what Week 3 is about.
Not perfection. Not having everything solved. Just continuing, even when the going gets tough.
Maybe you’ve hit a section that still won’t settle. Maybe progress feels slower than you hoped. Maybe you’re realizing how much more there is to do. That’s normal. In fact, it’s part of the process. This is often the exact moment when real growth happens, if you just keep showing up!
This week, the goal is simple: keep the moving forward!
Even a small step matters:
- one passage a little steadier
- one phrase a little freer
- one practice session where you stayed patient
- one moment where the music started to sound as you like
That is momentum.
This week, share where you are right now:
- a short clip from your practice
- a passage that’s improving
- a place where you’re still stuck
- or a few thoughts on what it’s been like to stay with the piece
And if you need, share what might be frustrating you, too.
We are all in this together.
Week 4 will be about recording. This week is about building the resilience to get there.
Keep going. Stay with it. You may be closer than you think.
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Week 3 Update - Mouvement (Images I, Debussy)
This week's practice has been a bit frustrating as I have been unwell for much of the week and it is difficult to concentrate effectively on such challenging music when you do not feel clear-headed. My original plan for the week was to try and record a complete A and a complete B section but I realized that was going to be too big a goal, so I just focused on the complete A section. This opening section proved to be quite difficult to record to my satisfaction but I have included one of the better attempts below. I am sure it will feel a little less 'slippery' as I get back to feeling normal and have a bit more time with it to finesse some of the pedal work.
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https://youtu.be/fTvI6DYF35g Thank you to everyone for their encouragement, it really helps to know we have a community who is all working on their respective goals. Here is an overview of the tricky passages in the Waltz by Moszkowski.
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My initial plan to get through the whole thing this week had to be altered when I realized I didn't have the necessary time this week. So what I decided on the weekend was to just try to get this middle section memorized. Here is an attempt! Gladly the last week of the challenge can be stretched a little, so there's still some hope to get a decent recording of this piece before the watch party! 🤞🏻
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Missed week 1 and week 2 progress videos but have been grinding away at this polonaise for the past couple of weeks! Some things I’m currently focusing on and making notes of:
- fleshing out the big picture of the piece, making repetitions of phrases/sections different from the first time they’re presented, keeping things interesting in general
- keeping concentration and focus during high octane passages and not getting overwhelmed by the adrenaline rush
- trying to separate practicing full run throughs of the piece from practice of individual small sections, which is tough because I‘m currently getting carried away with playing large sections at a time (it’s just too much fun to play 😅)