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!!

119 replies

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    • Mark_Cooper
    • 2 days 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

      • Mark_Cooper
      • 9 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      thanks so much Juan Carlos !  Much appreciated 

      • Andrew_Smith
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

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

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • 6 hrs 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.

    • Church organist and amateur pianist in my free time. Otherwise a lawyer and sinologist now studying psychology.
    • Astrida_Gobina
    • Yesterday
    • 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
      • Yesterday
      • 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
      • Yesterday
      • 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, 

      • Church organist and amateur pianist in my free time. Otherwise a lawyer and sinologist now studying psychology.
      • Astrida_Gobina
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      Thank you!

      • Church organist and amateur pianist in my free time. Otherwise a lawyer and sinologist now studying psychology.
      • Astrida_Gobina
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

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

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

       A lot of great work, Astrida. Bravo!

      • Church organist and amateur pianist in my free time. Otherwise a lawyer and sinologist now studying psychology.
      • Astrida_Gobina
      • 11 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      thank you very much!

    • Kerstin
    • Yesterday
    • Reported - view

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

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

      • Rui
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       nice dynamics!

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

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

      • Mark_Cooper
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

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

      • Andrew_Smith
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Brava, Kerstin! The rhythmic pulse was especially good (along with everything else!) and really carried me along. 

      • Kerstin
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      Thank you..

      • Kerstin
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thanks!

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 22 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Bravo, Kerstin! Great playing and well memorized. 👏🏻

      • Kerstin
      • 21 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Sindre.

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

       It's an extraordinary interpretation, with great rhythmic drive and very expressive spirit. Bravo, Kerstin!

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

    Hi everyone!

    Here is my video of the "Tempest" Sonata, 3rd movement (Allegretto). Playing it feels like being on a roller coaster, with the sense that you could fall off at any moment.

    I didn't repeat the exposition, mainly because of the video's length and, you know, to minimize the possibility of mistakes 🙂.

    Like in previous challenges, I wish I'd had more time, as others have mentioned, to refine the interpretation and achieve a cleaner execution. But, well, we are among friends..., and we always have the opportunity to keep playing and revisiting the pieces we learn for Tonebase challenges. At least, I hope a little bit of the Beethovenian spirit comes through.

    The thing I worked on the most in this piece was restraining my use of the sustain pedal, reducing it as much as possible following Beethoven's score.

    Thank you so much, as always, for this challenge!

      • Rui
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      that was pretty good!

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

      Thank you, Rui!

      • Victoria_Macdonald
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      So fluid and musical. 

      • Mark_Cooper
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      great work Juan Carlos , and once again I’m amazed at your ability to memorise this piece in such a short space of time . 

Content aside

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