Week 4 – Play Through & Share

Welcome to Week 4 of the Romantic Music Challenge.

This week is about letting go of the microscope and trusting the arc you’ve built. You’ve worked through notes, texture, and character. Now it’s time to experience the piece as a whole.

 

This week, your goal is to play through your piece—or your chosen section—as a complete musical thought.

Practice Prompts

Choose one or two and explore:

- Play through without stopping, even if something goes wrong
- Decide where the emotional high point of the piece lives
- Notice where your attention drifts, and gently bring it back to the narrative
- Imagine you’re performing for one specific listener

 

Sharing for This Week

When you’re ready, share a recording of your full piece or selected section. Audio or video is welcome.

We’ll begin compiling submissions for our Romantic Watch Party on February 13, where we’ll listen together and celebrate everyone’s work.

 

Press record, play it through, and let it be what it is!

217 replies

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    • Claire.3
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    To A Water Lily by Edward MacDowell. complete with wrong notes!

    https://youtu.be/6nXiDv-aTuA

      • Claire.3
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       

      Thank you very much, that's lovely!

      • Vicki_R
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

        Thank you Clare for introducing me to a piece evocative of nature (I wasn't familiar with this suite of McDowell pieces). . I could see the water and felt uplifted. (I will explore the rest of the suite).  You had good balance of hands (bass didn't overpower) and varied dynamics.  Thank you for sharing all your hard work.   👍👏We learn so much from seeing what others are playing.

      • Claire.3
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

        I’m so pleased you like the piece! Thank you for your nice comments.

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 2 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nice lyrical playing!

    • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
    • Juan_Carlos
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is my video of Variation 18 from Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. I think Michael Voleridge's transcription is truly wonderful and, without the orchestra, allows us to experience something of the variation's deep Romantic feeling, with its memorable melodic moment that completely captivates us, leaving us defenseless... Anyway, it has been a pleasure to take part in this challenge and, as always, thank you so much, Dominic, for organizing it.

      • PViseskul
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       So majestically romantic - Bravo!!! ❤️

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you so much, Priya!

      • claudiadm73
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      So beautiful 😄😄😄💕💕💕💕thank you Juan!!

      • Unfrozen Barroom Piano Player
      • Peter_G
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Juan Carlos, If I didn't already know that you played Bach so well, I'd say you were born to play Romantic music!  You beautifully convey the sweep and grandeur of this amazing variation.  Where another composer might go from Chord 1 to Chord 2 in one step, Rachmaninoff takes 5 or 6 steps to get there, with each intervening Chord ratcheting up the intensity, all the way through to that climactic passage where the Gb half-diminished and the dominant 13th finally resolve to that big tonic Db chord.  You are expertly navigating this buildup and then the beautiful winding down at the end. Great work here!

      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Your story not just hugs the heart, but envelops it warmly and takes it for a gentle flight! Thank you so much!

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Reading your message, I remembered one of my first videos on Tonebase from four years ago: the Gavotte from the Violin Partita Nº 3 in Rachmaninoff's piano transcription, I should come back to this wonderful piece... 🤔, a perfect encounter between two geniuses that I love.  Thank you so much for your kind words, Peter!

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thank you very much for your heartfelt and beautiful words, Astrida!

      • vbashyam
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Amazing piece and wonderful interpretation! I saw something recently that while regular people share flowers for Valentines, pianists share Rachmaninoff!  

      • Noel_Nguyen
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Well, sir, I wonder if I should even submit my performance after this! 

      • Andrew_Smith
      • 18 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Anyone else having problems seeing your video? On my computer, there is only blank white space below what you wrote about the video. Thanks.

      • PViseskul
      • 18 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      I can see the vdo in his post ... here's the link to it on youtube https://youtu.be/QcZushjpafM?si=S-xYKDKdBIRac2dE

      • Andrew_Smith
      • 18 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you so much Priya! JUST finished watching and listening to your excellent rendition of the Elegie. So fluid and such great expression, and one would never know the recording process had worn you out (I know the feeling-- I need to learn to ignore that "record" feeling!). Cheers.

      • PViseskul
      • 18 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Andrew! At the moment I just don't know the piece well enough to recover gracefully yet (I honestly tried to recover and the whole thing just collapsed a few beats later). Hopefully I will feel more secure playing through with a few more weeks on it.

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 1 hr ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you so much, Vidhya ☺️!

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 1 hr ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you, Noel. But, I was very impressed by your rendition of Scriabin Étude op8 nº12, a really difficult piece. So, I'm sure that your kind words are quite rhetorical 😊. By the way, what piece are you working on for this challenge?

      • Jarkko_Janhunen
      • 41 min ago
      • Reported - view

      Top notch,  !🙂

    • Deana_Dossey
    • 2 days ago
    • Reported - view

    https://youtu.be/M6rpDv45x50

    R Schumann Melody. Progress made. thanks for a productive challenge. 

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 2 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nicely phrased, Deana!

    • Jarkko_Janhunen
    • 2 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi, here's my recording of Liszt Consolation nr 3. (A magical tune when played well 🙂.)

    https://youtu.be/OXNdWzZ9SdM?feature=shared

      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 2 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Beautifully sung, Jarkko! With sensitive playing in a truly romantic piece.

Content aside

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