Week 1: Beethoven Birthday Challenge – Choose Your Piece! 
Welcome to the first week of our Beethoven Birthday Challenge! In celebration of Beethoven’s genius, we invite you to select a piece from his repertoire to explore and perform this week. Whether you’re drawn to his sonatas, variations, or shorter works, the choice is yours! Let’s dive into his music and share our progress throughout the week.
Happy practicing, and may the spirit of Beethoven inspire you!
Challenge:
- Pick your Piece!
- Share your first video with us - it could be sight reading, playing, or talking about why you love the music!
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Hey guys!
For this Challenge, I am looking forward to revisiting Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata" a work that I dearly love and am excited to take to the next level.
In particular, looking forward to exploring the pedal markings in the 1st movement and finding greater contrast in 2nd and 3rd movements!
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Dominic Cheli thank you for addressing the pedal markings in the first movement. I am looking forward to this tutorial.
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Dominic Cheli Looking forward to it
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Dominic Cheli Beautiful!
It will be difficult for you to manage all the stuff, while you are recording your interesting RIMSKIJ-KORSAKOV ALBUM FOR NAXOS and playing such terrific Concerti like Tchaikovsky 1 with orchestra!
Looking forward to your master-level op.27 n.2 Sonata for this Tonebase Beethoven Challenge!
Ciao!
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I will be working on the sister sonata to Moonlight- another sonata quasi una fantasia- Op 27/1 in E flat major. I was drawn in by the simplicity and calmness of the opening melody. This sonata is dreamy, warm, romantic and of course dark and turbulent at times as well. I am sure I will be playing it long after this challenge is over.
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Vidhya Bashyam I'm looking forward to hearing you play this, Vidhya!
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I’ve selected Op. 28 because it has simply been on my bucket list for ages.
I’m mesmerized by the incessant heartbeat of repeated D’s in the first mvt , morphing into the Andante A’s that carry the listener through to the minor key second mvt. You almost feel like you’re hypnotized into hearing Beethoven’s own pulse propelling you through the whole sonata.
And who wouldn’t like a nice Scherzo before a Rondo that wraps things up with a faster-than-a-speeding-bullet Presto ending?
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Gail Starr Ooh, this sounds like fun, Gail! Looking forward to hearing you play this.
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Michelle R Thanks, Michelle. Can’t wait to hear YOU, too
. I’ll hop on to Tonic to practice, so I’ll see (well, hear) you there. -
Gail Starr Lovely choice!
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Gail Starr Oh that one's a beauty. Looking forward to hearing it.
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I'll be playing a German Dance in C Major (WoO 8). I've selected it because I want to participate in the challenge - I've missed the fun of working alongside all my Tonebase Buddies - and it's one option my teacher offered to me. He said Beethoven's works aren't great pedagogically for me right now.
That will change soon enough, I hope! -
Michelle R Yeah! Glad you have time to join this challenge!
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I have selected Beethoven’s Sonata No. 24 in F sharp Major (Opus 78). As Henle points out in the description “this work strikes a new and lyrically cantabile tone” - I guess that’s what made me fall in love with this sonata when I heard it for the first time.
Besides, F sharp Major is very unusual, so it will for sure make me practice scales again. And the sonata has only two movements, therefore making it a shorter work with the second movement - Allegro vivace - only around 3 minutes long.
Today, I started to work with my piano teacher on the first movement: so kind of a perfect start for this challenge.-
Ursina Boehm Such a beautiful sonata! Can’t wait to hear you!
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Ursina Boehm The F# Maj key is really a brain teaser! Such an interesting contrast with the two movements - I look forward to hearing how you approach them.
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Ursina Boehm here is a video of the 1st mvt (without repeats). Still so much work to do. So many details that I need to work on. Not sure whether I will have enough time for the 2nd mvt
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Ursina Boehm That was incredibly beautiful!
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Vidhya Bashyam thank you
! I had my piano lesson today and got a bit overwhelmed with what I need to work on. After a first practice session this evening, I decided to simply make a first recording of the 1st mvt. We’ll see how far I will get this week 
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Ursina Boehm That was so lovely. Very controlled but still very expressive, if felt like it was coming from your heart.
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Jeff thank you
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Ursina Boehm You sound terrific!! Great legato and voicing with the main melody, and you're handling the tricky LH passagework at the end really well!
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Judy Kuan thank you
. This tricky LH passage still needs a lot of work. It was already difficult to find a fingering that works well for my hand 
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Ursina Boehm Beautiful playing, Ursina! Already sounding great. Looking forward hear how you will develop this further.
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Ursina Boehm I had a couple of teachers independently emphasize the utmost importance of choosing the right fingering for your hand for that passage. So if you found one, that's great!
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