Week 4: Submit Your Recording for the Chopin Watch Party!

Dominic_Cheli
updated 4 days ago
140replies

Update!

Our Watch Party has been re-scheduled for this upcoming Monday at 11am PT!

It’s sharing time! Drop your recording below so we can cheer you on at the Chopin Watch Party — happening Monday October 20th!

What to Post

A video of your Chopin piece — polished, messy, dramatic, cautious... all versions welcome.
Write what you worked on this week — tone, voicing, octaves, courage, not throwing the score across the room, etc... 😄

Deadline

Please post by Tuesday, Oct 15th at 9:00 AM PT so I have time to build a playlist worthy of Chopin and popcorn.

- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
- Aleksandra_Bogomaz
- 8 days ago
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Hello everyone!

I haven’t been really active in the previous weeks, but anyway here comes the Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2 where it is standing at this point.

I promise I did harmonic analysis and structural analysis (in this case we have ABA1 form, I believe English term would be “ternary form”?) long time ago, this is something I am regularly required to do by my professor, but it was so useful to hear some really good tips - thank you, dr. Kim!

https://youtu.be/drSX_0KTx_k?si=vGAVXrFUidlKt-D-
- Mark_Cooper
  
  7 days ago
  
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  lovely rendition Aleksandra , thanks for posting
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  6 days ago
  
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  Thank you very much,
  
  and
- Victoria_Macdonald
  
  6 days ago
  
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  This is so amazingly beautiful. Your playing is so fluid and I can really sense how you're opening up to Chopin. The changes in dynamics, rubato and textures distinguish each section of this nocturne. Hope to hear it in person one day!
- Derek_McConville
  
  5 days ago
  
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  that was beautiful Aleks :) you really captured all the emotions in the piece!
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  5 days ago
  
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  my dear Victoria from Astoria, thank you so much for your lovely and warm feedback. About opening to Chopin - I'll do my best to get there in this lifetime - I'm trying really hard! 😉. And I'd love so much that we can play for each other live again at some point in time ❤️
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  5 days ago
  
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  thanks Derek :)
- Dolores_Bacon
  
  4 days ago
  
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  so wonderful to see and hear you play, what an elegant presence you have at the piano and such agility with the many runs. Good, full, warm sound and great dynamics! I know you are still working on this and am looking forward to hearing you make the notes breathe and sigh between the little golden sparkles of sound your fingers create. Take your time, lean in and luxuriate in the beauty you are putting out there. Really good work!
- chuck_levin
  
  4 days ago
  
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  Hey Aleksandra, for a self-professed Chopin skeptic (is that a fair term?), you sure seem to have a good ear for him. Beautiful rubatos throughout and wonderful dexterous passage work also. Very nice!
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  4 days ago
  
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  thank you so much! I have time until January to somehow get Chopin into my system, so there’s hope indeed! I’ll do my best ❤️
- Dolores_Bacon
  
  4 days ago
  
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  hope springs eternal! I have every confidence that you will achieve that goal, you already have him under your fingertips. You are, as the rest of us, really very critical of yourself and I know for a fact that in January you will offer all of us a huge surprise - so keep at it, and know that you are already playing at a beautiful level!
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  4 days ago
  
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  haha, I will do my best to adjust the sound for online transmission. Well, playing too. Yes, that first… hm…right. I have to play 😂.
- Dolores_Bacon
  
  4 days ago
  
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  yes, some things are already written in stone. your having to play is one of them...and it is our good fortune, indeed!
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  4 days ago
  
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  what one has to do, one has to do! Oh, well… ❤️
- Philosophy teacher and piano lover
- Juan_Carlos
- 8 days ago
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Hi eveyone,

Here is my video of the Étude Op. 10 Nº 5 (Black Keys).

What can I say... As always, I was a bit overly optimistic and hoped to achieve a livelier and more accurate interpretation, but that would probably take several months of hard work... These études are devilishly difficult and still feel far beyond what I can play properly.

That said, I now understand the piece better and I'm determined to keep studying it, especially focusing on achieving that effortless, floating touch, which is both challenging and beautiful.

Anyway, thank you so much, Eloise and Dominic, for this extraordinary challenge. It has truly pushed us to dive deeper into Chopin's world and practice his music more and more.
- PViseskul
  
  8 days ago
  
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  such sweetness in the sound you produced here 🥰 definitely a solid start!
- Kerstin
  
  7 days ago
  
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  Great performance. 👍
- Mark_Cooper
  
  7 days ago
  
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  very impressive Juan Carlos , and already by memory
  
  you have a good handle on this one already
- Amateur piano enthusiast
  
  Marc_M
  
  7 days ago
  
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  Lovely work so far. You make me want to learn the piece also!
- In love with medicine, airplanes, tango and piano
  
  Aleksandra_Bogomaz
  
  6 days ago
  
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  I'm glad you decided to keep working on this etude, and I would like to hear what you will consider as a final result. To me it sounded already very good, the sound is clear and pearly, and your hands on the piano seem to move effortlessly.
- Andrew_Smith
  
  6 days ago
  
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  Great job, and as a philosophy major (long ago!) nice to see a philosophy teacher using the "other half" of the brain, ha ha!
- Philosophy teacher and piano lover
  
  Juan_Carlos
  
  6 days ago
  
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  Thank you so much for your kind words!
- Philosophy teacher and piano lover
  
  Juan_Carlos
  
  6 days ago
  
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  Thank you so much, Aleksandra! You're very kind, I'll try to play it a bit faster and with a lighter texture.
- Philosophy teacher and piano lover
  
  Juan_Carlos
  
  6 days ago
  
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  Thanks so much, Andrew! I'm doing my best to keep both hemispheres entertained, on superior tasks of course, hahaha.
  
  By the way, you know Arthur Schopenhauer had an insightful and beautiful line about this: "Music is the occult metaphysical exercise of a soul not knowing that it philosophizes". So, I guess I'm just philosophizing by playing my piano too 🤔...
- Derek_McConville
  
  5 days ago
  
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  that was a great performance!
- Hai_Nguyen
- 7 days ago
- Reported - view
Hi everyone,

Here is Scott’s recording of Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00u7APriYKI

Any feedback and suggestions to help Scott improve his interpretation and playing would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks to Eloise and Dominic for organizing this valuable challenge. Although Scott wasn’t able to complete the weekly assignments due to school commitments, he learned a great deal from Eloise’s insightful videos and from the thoughtful responses of Tonebase members.

Warm regards,

Hai

(Scott's dad)