WEEK THREE Updates: Main Thread - Beethoven smiles in the Coda!
Hello and welcome to the WEEK THREE 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 October 4 - 11th I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Download the music:
Beethoven: 6 Variations on an Original Theme
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: Shifting the Hands was a bit tricky to get smooth!
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
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- Variation you worked on: No. 1
- One thing you found easy: Learning the notes, and rhythms were rather straight-forward, and not challenging except when trying to record !
- One thing you found difficult: Trying to record without making lots of mistakes , I am aware as soon as I鈥檓 making them !
Anyway I鈥檓 sharing my attempt , it鈥檚 my third few bars I鈥檝e ever tried to memorize in my whole life . - I love watching all your videos and maybe some of expertise will rub off on me !
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Sindre Skarelven Thank you for your encouraging words . I think I鈥檓 going to try some easy pieces ( like this ) and try to memorize those without having to present them in a video ! That will take the stress out of it . Actually even with this small amount of work it has helped with my theory and yes it鈥檚 good for my brain !! Take care
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mariannejhampton Sounds great Marianne, and I always have the same problem when recording - I get a bit nervous (?) and am more prone to mistakes as well!
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mariannejhampton we鈥檒l done! At this tempo, the music had a very deliberate feel to it! Re: memorization: not sure about others, but I memorize fingerings as well as notes and harmonies, and then practice cueing myself a couple of measures before a tricky moment. So glad you made this recording!
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mariannejhampton I enjoyed that. That's how life should be, pay attention to every sound and appreciate every moment.
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Brett Gilbert The one good thing I found about the memory thing is that I would have been able to fake the music if I couldn鈥檛 remember Beethoven鈥檚 notes as I knew the basic chords behind his music ! It is so stressful though !
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Richard George Littlewood Thank you Richard , I wish I could have played the piece just a bit faster but my poor old brain would only work at that speed ! I do love listening to slow classical piano pieces as it gives me time to internalize the sound .
I have really enjoyed everyone鈥檚 music and here鈥檚 to the next challenge !
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Monika Tusnady You鈥檙e right it would be such a help and I believe I need to get that fingering figured out before trying to memorize. Fingering was never one of my virtues and my childhood piano teacher called my music ability erratic ! I believe fingering will be my goal for the next challenge !
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mariannejhampton I also like to play slow until I have worked everything out, and enjoy tempos where the melody is clear. Great job keeping it moving forward to the end. I think with practice we will find it easier to make the videos, just as Dominic says. I like that participating in the challenges is pushing me to get out of my comfort zone and get used to making the videos. Thank you for sharing your music!
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Susan Thank you for the encouragement Susan . This memorization will certainly be a challenge!
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mariannejhampton Great job, Marianne! You are focus now in the sound and in the phrasing. I admire your determination.
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Juan Carlos Olite Thank you Juan , I鈥檓 glad that you know I鈥檓 trying as for some reason memorization does not come easy for me !
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mariannejhampton Marianne, thank you for submitting your video! Enjoyable!
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Pauline Thank you . I鈥檓 learning to memorize which is proving to be very difficult ! Hope to hear you next challenge !
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mariannejhampton As I told Gail, I am an audience member who loves to listen and watch this wonderful music-making! Such great fun! Thank you!
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Thank you for letting me know about the ProScore add-on, Marianne!
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- Variation you worked on: The whole piece.
- One thing you found easy: Watching everyone's lovely videos.
- One thing you found difficult: Memorizing. I just didn't have enough practice time to memorize so perhaps in a future challenge. I did want to at least post an updated video after watching Dominic's wonderful livestream. Even with music, making a recording of this length without mistakes is always difficult. I did skip the repeats in this recording as I seemed to be more prone to mistakes when adding the repeats
- As a side challenge I've been working on improving my recording quality and I think this is an improvement over my original video. I put the mics directly over the open piano lid.
Congratulations everyone on this fun challenge! -
Brett Gilbert great work, Brett! There鈥檚 such character in these variations! You had me at the theme with those charming cadences, delighted me with your soft spin on Var. 6, and with everything in between. After such a short learning time, I鈥檓 leaning heavily towards playing from the score, as it allows us to focus on the music which is, of course, the whole point. Thank you!
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Brett Gilbert Fantastic Brett. The first half was wonderful, and then I thought you started speeding up a bit, though perhaps it was my imagination... It was an excellent performance, I enjoyed listening to that.
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Thanks Monika Tusnady . I can see advantages to memorizing but agree that using the music removes a certain stress over remembering notes and allows us to just enjoy the music. Hope to see you in the next challenge!
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Thanks Richard George Littlewood and that is an excellent observation about tempo. I didn't realize it until I played it back but your are right that I let the tempo get away in the 2nd half. Something about the recording process makes me a bit nervous and I go to my automatic tendency to play fast. Thanks for listening and the feedback.
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Brett Gilbert Listened in awe last night but forgot to post . I think you did a great job and if I didn鈥檛 see the sheet music and the page turns I would have thought you had it memorized !
I鈥檇 like to know how you and the others that have full time jobs manage to play such masterpieces !!! -
Brett Gilbert Wow! I am so impressed with those of you that have made videos of the whole piece in just a few weeks. I liked the tempo you took for the Var. VI. - your scales in that section have a nice pleasing tone and shape and great job with the Coda as well. I really enjoyed your entire rendition of this piece!
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Thanks mariannejhampton , I spread out the music in a way where I only had one page turn so I'm glad my trick worked
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Thanks Susan , very kind of you. I tried to moderate the tempos and apply advice from the useful livestream. It's a great process to learn on our own and then have a professional like Dominic give insights to help guide our interpretations.
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Brett Gilbert Well done on this great performance, Brett!
So many great musical choices, and a very nice sound in the recording as well! I think these challenges is what we make of them ourselves, and we can use them to whatever purpose we want. Like if we want to practice memorizing with the piece, or perhaps just focus on the music.
If you have a tendency to speed up when you're getting nervous, then you're in good company! That is a very common thing! The general advice is to practice doing the opposite, try to go slower instead. I think you did well in this recording, and you had a very pleasing calmness over Variation VI.
Always a pleasure, Brett. Looking forward to the next one!
