READ ME FIRST: Rules & FAQ for Brahms Waltzes Community Challenge!
Hello everyone and welcome to our latest tonebase piano Community Practice Challenge! 
Are you ready to learn some of Brahms' music together?!
THREE WEEKS OF Brahms 16 Waltzes op.39
Brahms is a composer known for many different styles of music: Sonatas, Symphonies, Concertos, Hungarian dances, but also waltzes! These waltzes exist in many different formats: solo piano, piano 4 hands, and even 2 pianos (all arranged by Brahms himself). This set of pieces were written in 1865, and reflect the climate of 19th century Europe with the rise of the middle class labeled as ‘Biedermeier’ and ‘gemütlich’ (‘agreeably pleasant’). Unlike Brahms' famous Hungarian dances, these waltzes show his admiration for Franz Schubert, and they have a strong Viennese flavor. This is music for intimate settings, the home, the salon, for friends and family!
Download the music:
What are we doing?
- We are going to be learning some or all of the Waltzes from Brahms op.39!
- The aim is to practice them every day and post progress updates twice a week.
- There is absolutely no expectation of going through the entire cycle.
- You choose how many waltzes you work on, but you commit to practicing them regularly.
- A watch party featuring your submissions will take part at the end (date below!)
When does this take place?
- Challenge start: November 1st
- Practice days: November 1 - 22 (21 days)
- Watch party: TBD! Stay Tuned! (← link coming soon!)
How to start:
- Start by practicing one waltz of your choice. Feel free to start with no. 1 or check out these SUGGESTED SELECTIONS
- After 2-3 days, go to our BIWEEKLY UPDATES thread and post about one thing you found easy, and one thing you found hard.
- If you are comfortable with it, add a video or audio of yourself performing it. This is optional, but it will allow you to share your progress with others!
I encourage you to post updates twice a week. No daily update expectation in this challenge! If you want to post daily though, feel free!
After you post an update:
- When you feel ready, move on to another waltz.
- Repeat steps 1-3 from above every day of the challenge.
- There is no limit on long you can spend on each waltz! Do whatever feels comfortable, as long as you keep practicing one of them every day.
Why are we doing this?
- Because we want to challenge ourselves to practice every day
- Because learning together is more fun than learning alone
- Because we get to share our progress with others (whether video or just text)
- Because new music is wonderful and these pieces were written especially for us!
- Because we want to meet our fellow tonebase community members
The Fun Part:
- At the end of our practice challenge, we will be hosting a Watch Party on tonebase LIVE! This will feature user submissions and shoutouts!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Can I join the challenge if I wasn't there on November 1st?
Yes! Just make sure you keep practicing every day and updating us twice a week.
Do I have to go through all 16 waltzes?
Absolutely not. You are free to go practice as few or as many as you wish. Even spending the entire three weeks on a single waltz can be very valuable!
I have a question, who do I ask?
Feel free to use this thread to ask any questions you might have about this challenge! If you would prefer to ask something in a more confidential setting, please use my email: [email protected]
Can I do more than one waltz per day?
Of course! As always, this challenge is for you - do with it what you wish. As long as you 1) practice every day; 2) keep track of your progress; 3) share your progress with others - you are fully participating! Of course I won't be mad if this is too easy for you 
↓ Reply with other questions below ↓
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I think the email that was just sent out has the wrong dates?
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Natale Farrell I was wondering about this very thing…
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Natale Farrell Yes it does - just refer to the dates here!
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Hello, I know this is an old thread, but I was assigned 39.9 in d minor by my teacher and struggle so much. I watched the replay of the intro video, where Jarred talks about all waltzes, and took notes on "my waltz", but I am not even close to where I could apply any of that.
I am a grade 5 player, this one is abrsm 5 I think. So it should be my level. It is slow, it has 5 notes per square foot of paper, but I can't even read it, because there are so many left hand leaps and I lose track completely of where I am in the music.
I have it memorized now, which means at least 20% of my concentration, go to "what comes neeeext". I have my fingering sorted out, that's not the problem. BUT:
I don't feel the waltz beat, recordings are very rare and it seems that the few interpretations I found sound like 5 different waltzes, from all pedal to so much rubato you couldn't evel tell the time signature.
I realize I start to randomly copy what I hear, but it isn't me, no connection, and it doesn't make sense. Additionally, wrong notes and slow tempo un my own playing WIP don't help me to feel the pulse or anything. I keep making mistakes all the time and think those are at least 50-60% concentration/memory related and 20% trying to grab any interpretation attempt by force. I can only pinpoint 3 bars that are real "finger movement" troublespots. Those make me "happy" because I know how to practice problems like that efficiently. But for all the other parts I don't even know how to start practicing them, because it is not about right notes or counting to 3, but more like not knowing what the whole thing really is about. Like imitating a foreign language, without not even knowing where one word starts and ends, nor if it is a noun or a verb... I find myself repeating the whole piece without intention, which is totally pointless.
Has anyone any tips? Anything that helps me connect to it? My teacher tells me I need to play the bass tone louder and better emphasize the 1 beat, feel the waltz, but it seems like curing a symptom, not the cause. I feel like until I don't "feel" the essence of the piece I can't work on it, because I don't know what I am doing and why. I can count 123, but that's expressionless and bad tone. And I can't listen to recordings because I can't tell what the plain, basic skeleton of the piece is and where interpretation (or pianistic ego demonstration) starts.
I need the essence first
Any idea or ressource how to practice a piece that doesn't "click"?
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Dagmar I don’t have any free time until Sunday, but, if you don’t mind waiting, I’d be happy to think about it to see if I can come up with any helpful ideas?
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Gail Starr oh yes! I am am away from piano for a few days, too. And have patience!
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Dagmar Hi Dagmar! I took a look at this lovely miniature last night. It IS a bit unusual, especially because Brahms leaves us "hanging" at the end by not ending on the tonic. Since I had never read through this piece before, I decided to listen to a few pianists AND a guitarist on YouTube to see how the Pros manage it. Interestingly, the guitarist's interpretation seems to simplify WHERE Brahms wants the melodic lines to lead us...perhaps because on his instrument he's not worried about the rather large jumps in the LH?
In order to get more familiar with it, you might want to apply some of the useful techniques that Jarred taught us in the TWI: try singing the melodic lines AND the bass, and also do a quick harmonic analysis.
If you'd like to have a quick Zoom or WhatsApp to go through the piece in person, just send me a message.
Good luck with this charming piece!
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Gail Starr Hi Gail, yes, I tried the TWI things, but as it is so scattered I couldn't find a real melody, and bass also didn'tgivd me a clue. Analysis always is the first thing I do, but it didn't seem to help me either. That's why I am so confused, because usually I have a sense for melody and harmonic structure... at least basic enough to connect with a piece. The renditions I found are all so different and with many I heard more pianistic ego than the music.
Someone else now pointed out that the melody sounds like "I yearn, I mourn, I cry, I die"
Funny enough this really helps me! Because to me the left hand didn't sound like melody, but just a bunch of intervals with no real connection. Now I wrote my own "lyrics" for the whole piece, I'll start a new practice session with that tomorrow. Might be that this was the missing puzzle piece. I couldn't really name what my issue is, just that something feels lost and not like usual when I work on pieces.
To havd a look at a different instrument's rendition is a great tip. I will listen to the guitar piece, that might be enlightening! Thank you!
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