Breaking down the moonlight

The "Moonlight Sonata" looks difficult on the page, but its difficulty has more to do with its musical notation than with its execution on the keyboard. In other words, it presents a problem of information rather than one of playing. My approach to learning it, then, is to decipher the score step by step, beginning with the left hand part. This part consists almost entirely of octaves, so perceiving this fact simplifies the process almost immediately: there is only one note to learn for each chord, not two. The next simplification comes in realizing that Beethoven uses only certain notes, mostly C#, G#, and F#, the I, V, and IV of the key of the piece. Another apparent difficulty is with enharmonics: instead of writing C natural, he writes B#; there are also some double sharps. These are difficult to sight-read, but not difficult to decipher more slowly. A similar process will work for the treble part, which is almost entirely ascending arpeggiated chords of three notes. The process will consist of systematically figuring out what the chords are.

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The above paragraph is an exercise: I wanted to write a paragraph about something that I know, in a limited time frame, in the way suggested by Thomas Basbøll.  This took me 13 minutes. Of course, I could edit it for style: the repetition of difficult is not very elegant, but it is not at all a "shitty first draft."

You ought to be able to write clearly and basically about something you know. That is basic competence. To get to the next level, of stylistic elegance, you can simply revise your first, competent draft.