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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I made this video of Var. III Friday night. It was more straightforward than Var. II. So that鈥檚 my answer for what was easy. What was difficult? What鈥檚 difficult is I鈥檓 an A/V novice - someday I hope to get more high tech with my recording set up. For now I鈥檓 just using my iPad. I notice the bass is somewhat lost compared to live.
https://youtube.com/shorts/QhwYuYHFdbQ?feature=share-
Susan Thank you for your video, Susan! I enjoyed it!
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Pauline thanks! and thank you for taking time to watch it!
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Susan Yes, of course! I admire all of you who are generous enough to submit your work!
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Susan Hello, Susan. I have bought the Shure MV88 mic and checked with iPad. It works perfectly well. I will make the next video recordings with this microphone...
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Juan Carlos Olite that鈥檚 exciting! Thanks for letting me know. I look forward to hearing how your next video sounds and whether you find it improves clarity over the built in ipad mic. I have not made the purchase yet, but plan to very soon - it鈥檚 in my Amazon cart.
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What I worked on: I spent some time deciding whether or not to take repeats, and decided that I probably would take repeats in performance, but for the sake of brevity in this forum, I didn't. (Except for variation 3, which I think sounds really lopsided without the repeat.) I also added a couple of ossias (in var 1 and 5) to the recap of the theme, which I probably would do in performance to break up some of the repetition.
What was easy: Much of this piece is not overly technically challenging, but it seems always musically challenging.
What was challenging: Voicing and phrasing. I wanted to bring out some of the lower and middle voices. And I didn't want the whole thing to be a succession of 4-bar phrases! I wanted a sense of longer phrasing.
Anyway, here's my video:
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Matt a very musical performance. Such cute little turns in Var. 5! Like you noted, it remains musically challenging at every turn and I felt that very much throughout the learning process as well. Your recording tells me me that you did come to like this piece!
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Matt great job on the whole piece. I liked the tempos you chose and the way you expressed the contrasting moods of the variations and your creative touches.
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Matt Well done! I enjoyed that you had some fun with the piece, it kept me interested! I particularly liked your var. VI. witch you managed to play very clearly, even with some pedaling.
Hope you're ready for the next challenge in a couple of weeks :)
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Matt I loved your personal touches. This made it so much more fresh and playful for those of us who have spent time with the piece in its "straight version" for nearly 3 weeks. The objectives you outlines were definitely met!
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Matt What a personal version! I like it; here and there you show your peculiar mark, it's great!
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Matt Thank you, Matt! It was enjoyable to listen and to watch!
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Here's my recording of the whole piece; there are several bits in the last 2 variations that are not as good as I would have liked them, but maybe I'll finish those up later. Also, in the second variation, because I was having a very hard time with the ending, I made up my own ending which transitions into Var. 3. Since this is one of Beethoven's self-titled "Light" pieces, so he wouldn't be too upset, would he?
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Genevieve
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Genevieve Great job AND your memorized it. I especially like the way your change the "touch" for each variation. Way to go!
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Genevieve Good job , congratulations on memorizing too !
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Genevieve Was it you who mentioned a theme and variations by Chaminade ? Anyway the only one I could find was op 89 . In my opinion it is absolutely beautiful . Thank you for mentioning this
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Genevieve I enjoyed your video, Genevieve! Thank you!
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mariannejhampton I was the one that mentioned Chaminade. Indeed, Op. 89 is very beautiful! It's what drew me into her music. She also did a Theme and Variations op. 120, which I could find the score for easily, though I was less successful finding a recording. Since she is such an obscure composer, there are several pieces which have never been recorded. It would be fun to be to premier a piece like that!
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Genevieve I think the theme and variations would be too hard for me but I'm sure there are some that could play it ( and it should be played as it's so beautiful! ) . Bet you could play it !
I'll check out the other piece you mentioned now . Take care
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I just remembered that I had been planning on making my own variation on the theme!
(the piece taking longer to learn than anticipated made me forget) I'm making good progress so far, though it probably won't be ready in time for Wednesday. -
Genevieve I'm going to continue to work on it also, so you will have company!
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Genevieve I think you can still post on this site after the challenge is over as I would love to hear you !
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If we compose music for TVcommercials, I could possibly get us some projects!
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Gail Starr I think there is lots of talent here .
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