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Ode to Joy, Day 22: News Flash: Beethoven Works as Romantic Music!

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B, I’ve reached Day 22 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy. Sorry I missed a couple of days of updates. I was in North Carolina for the weekend and did quite a bit of mental practice, but it wasn't the most exciting thing to write about (or video)

Day 22

Today’s focus is variable practice, where you intentionally change something each time you repeat a passage instead of playing it the exact same way over and over. You might vary the tempo, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, phrasing, and so on.

The idea is to keep your brain actively engaged rather than letting it slip into autopilot. Apparently, besides being kind of fun, this kind of practice improves learning, memory, flexibility, and consistency in ways that regular repetition doesn’t.

Today’s passages were Batch 2 (revisiting after 7 days away) and Batch 6 (revisiting after 2 days away). I experimented a bit with tempo and dynamics, though there’s only so fast I can currently play this piece (not very). And while there are some louder and softer sections, the dynamics are fairly consistent overall. Everything is pretty staccato, and there’s very little pedal.

So I decided to try playing it like an emotional Romantic piece, which somehow turned into 3/4 time... and it was so pretty! It sounds like ... if not a Chopin waltz, at least a Scott Joplin waltz!


As I mention in the video, it’s not easy to make the switch to Romantic-era waltz, but the process definitely helps solidify the notes under my fingers. I may try this, along with other variable practice exercises, on the remaining sections.

Where I Am Now

I’m in a good place, despite a couple of days away from the piano. This feels like the right point to introduce variable practice because now that I know all the notes, it would be very easy to drift into mindless repetition while trying to build tempo.

Tomorrow I continue revisiting Batch 6, and I also begin my Batch 3 revisit after its 7-day break.

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