Week 4 Beethoven Challenge – Recordings Watch Party 🎥🎶

Week 4 is here, and it's time to share!

For this final week of the Beethoven Challenge, your goal is simple:
record your piece and submit it for our community Watch Party.

It doesn’t have to be “finished” or perfect. In fact, it’s more useful if it isn’t. Record where you are right now with your Beethoven and let that be your snapshot of growth from Week 1 to Week 4.

How to participate:

  1. Record your Beethoven selection (phone video is totally fine).

  2. Upload it to Youtube!

  3. Post the link in the Week 4 thread below with:

    • Piece and movement

    • One sentence: “The thing I worked on most in this piece was…”

We’ll collect submissions and feature as many as we can in the Watch Party, with live commentary, encouragement, and a chance to hear how everyone has grown over the month.

This week’s challenge:
Don’t wait until you “deserve” to record. Hit record, share your current best, and join us for the Watch Party!!

146 replies

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    • Deana_Dossey
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    thank you to everyone posting recordings of their Beethoven pieces. I'm really enjoying listening and learning more about the music. 

    • Mark_Cooper
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi all

    I will echo a previous comment about how difficult it is to record this without errors !  But , interestingly, the recording process does help show up the weak points which will need more work …..

    anyway here is my rendition of op78 1st movement 

     

    Beethoven op78

    1st movement 

     

    https://youtu.be/pDqrUMGNFOA?si=wGztVx3jMw8jzPW0

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Wow, that was great! So many different textures and you captured them all beautifully. Your finger work is spot on!

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       thank you Victoria appreciate that . A bit of self criticism, due to nerves , I’m playing this piece too fast , the metronome marking is 116 , I’m sure that I am exceeding that , and I come a bit unstuck in places ! 

      • Hae_Young_Kim
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Wow, this is truly beautiful. I’ve always loved this movement and even hoped to learn it myself someday, though I never quite started. Your tone is wonderfully soft and gentle. Thank you for sharing this with us.

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

       Great playing, Mark! The lyrical phrasing of the main theme and your expressive dynamics are beautiful.

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you Hae Young, much appreciated, it’s a great sonata, I’m working on the second movement too, very challenging! Maybe I’ll present it at the next Beethoven challenge ….

       

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      thanks so much Juan Carlos !  Much appreciated 

      • Andrew_Smith
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Great job Mark, and that's a lot of music to get through on one recording. Congrats!

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Yes, I have the same issue with thr Pathétique. I think the energy ofnthe oiece keeps propelling me to play faster and faster and then I'm like the dancer in "The Red Shoe" just hanging on for dear life.

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       You've inspired me to try to learn this one.  Lovely job!

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       thanks Gail

      yes go for it ! 

      I’m also working on the second movement 

    • Astrida_Gobina
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Dear all!

    Thanks a lot for this challenge and the opportunity not to lose focus on goal despite of all the frustrations and (relative) lack of time.

    This is my “progress report” on Moonlight part 3. Mostly, I tried to work on precision, dynamics and articulation. I see the need to get the big jumps faster and more efficient and to have more even pulse throughout. To be continued …

    https://youtu.be/g1MYLYFDPVI?si=tzQfXoqRk38vrlOF

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       This is going to be fantastic. You seem to have all the notes down and just need to build some incremental speed. The lyrical sections are just gorgeous. 

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       really impressed with this Astrida, I can see the amount of work you put in here. This worked very well at this slower( and sensible !) tempo, 

      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you!

      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       thank you! Yes, tempo will be my next challenge.

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

       A lot of great work, Astrida. Bravo!

      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      thank you very much!

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Great job, Astrida!

      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you! ☺️

    • Kerstin
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    https://youtu.be/h2Jq0EI0CeE?si=bFmPOLkEzNcZWEC6

    Beethoven sonata op. 7,                    3. Movement. The game for me was to play from memory. 🙋‍♀️

      • Rui
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       nice dynamics!

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       You won thr game 10 out of 10. Great feeling and interpretation. Love the sweater too!

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      this was a joy to listen to Kerstin , thanks for posting ! 

Content aside

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