WEEK 1: Discovering Schubert Month
Dear Pianists,
Welcome welcome! It's always a highlight for me to hear your playing and get to celebrate in your achievements with you. This is the thread where we'll all be posting our biweekly updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying!
Twice a week between February 1st and February 22nd, I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Piece you are working on:
- One passage you are satisfied with:
- One passage you are not yet satisfied with:
- (Optional): a video of you performing any or all of the piece you've been practicing!
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
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Hi, I’m in a re-learning/re-memorization state with my repertoire, currently on Bach French Suite No. 6 — yep, the entire suite... As, it’s coming along & to coincide with this Schubert challenge, I’ve decided to move up my re-visit of Impromptu No. 4 from Op. 90 D899.
My score is from the Royal Conservatory of Music Level 10 book.I enjoyed that it didn’t have to read the score much before finding the feel of the piece again after not playing it for 2 years.
My current challenge is playing the correct chords again. I don’t know why some sets of chords come back more easily than others.
Since the pandemic, my attention span has deteriorated to the point where I’m only practicing in 5-10 minute spurts throughout the day, usually while waiting for something to boil or cook … I’m also being mentally drained in preparation to take my first international gymnastics judging test in a few days, so I don’t have great expectations to be able to play this piece 100% in 3 weeks.
This is my first post here with video, and I’m terrible with playing for recordings, so apologies if this might be hard to listen to …-
Grace Wow - an international gymnastics judge! I hope you'll share more about that process for you. I was a gymnast as a child and still consider it my favorite sport. I love how challenging and how rewarding it is to feel so strong and so coordinated.
Actually, a lot of my attitudes towards piano practice have come from my experiences as a gymnast. I really prioritize efficient practice - something that gymnasts really do - and 5-10 minute increments sound fantastic to me! On many occasions, I make my most important progress in a 5-10 minute practice chunk. What are those chunks like for you? How do you spend them, and what are you able to achieve in 5-10 minutes?
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Hilda Hey, that's great to find another gymnast-pianist! I've not encountered many. The mental discipline for both activities is indeed very relatable. American Olympic champion gymnast Amy Chow also became accomplished with piano and had said that she learned to become very efficient with her time.
In gymnastics, especially back when I trained (& we had to set up & take down equipment in the gym each practice), you want to make every turn count because you didn't have a lot of time on the shared equipment. When you're also juggling piano practice & competitions, schoolwork, and transit, you learn to make the best use of your time and strive to focus only on what is in front you at each moment. Making mistakes in piano feels like falling off the beam, and you learn how to decide whether to make corrections or move on and come back stronger the next turn.
The funny thing I noticed since coming back to piano, is that when I was a gymnast, I learned certain piano pieces more easily if I had heard them as floor exercise music. My teammates did routines to pieces like Maple Leaf Rag, Fantaisie-Impromptu, and Rhapsody in Blue, and I learned them because I was hearing them played repetitively in the gym 20-30 times a week. Now, I can hardly learn anything because I'm not in the gym anymore and have no attention span.
So, with my short practice chunks, I'll commit to practicing something at least once a day. Last year, I learned all the 13 Oscar Peterson Jazz Exercises, so I play through those in 10 minutes as a memory check & warmup first. (They are more fun than Dozen A Day Exercises. ) Later, depending on mood, I'll play the 8 parts of Bach French Suite No. 6 and other pieces that I am learning or re-memorizing. I belong to an adult piano group at the local Steinway gallery and we perform every other week, so I will practice a bit more on the days before that gig, but only once per practice chunk. We're a very forgiving group, so things don't have to be perfect, but it is important to keep inspired, flexible and efficient, especially given the pandemic situations.
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- Piece you are working on:
When this challenge came up, I thought I'd try to bring back Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4. I learned this in 2016 (is that already 6 years ago?!), memorized it, played it several times on concerts. I've been playing it a bit and will see if I can dust it off a bit more before trying to record it. Brother Will Green I worked on the B flat sonata last year (my teacher's suggestion) and got discouraged. It is so long ... the last movement is pretty difficult also.
- One passage you are satisfied with:
The rippling 16th notes are not too bad.
- One passage you are not yet satisfied with:
The trio (minor section), particularly the balance and dynamics.
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Harriet Kaplan A stunning sonata. I love the Impromptu you're working on!! Can't wait to hear it, Harriet :)
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Piece working on: Impromptu #1 Op 90
Satisfied Section: Opening theme
Difficult Section: Section starting a measure 124, very beautiful but hard after trying it
While this piece is harder than I thought now that I am practicing it, I love the structure of it and the contrast of emotions. Parts remind me of Beethoven (the famous dut, dut, dut, dah motive).
I hope to post a video recording this weekend of the theme section. Typically I use a score editor to put in the piece I am learning so I can put my own expression marks and fingerings in and have a nice printed score when playing. I can put all the dynamic changes and tempo changes explicitly for my interpretation that way as a rough draft of my ideas. I can also steal themes for my violin practice and possibly transpose the melodies to violin. It is pretty fun learning both violin and piano for the same piece I am working on.
Probably the most challenging part of this piece to to vary the dynamics between the left and right hand and even within voices of the bass and treble clefs. While this is true in general, it is particularly noticeable for this piece, to bring out the melody line while the bass is much softer. However, that bass which was very soft (repeated notes) will become much louder later in sections to add drama. Very interesting piece. Why have I neglected Schubert? Oh, I know why - Beethoven and Scarlatti.
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Jeffrey Segor Love this piece! Good luck! :)
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I work on "Six German Dances" D 820
Somewhat satisfied: Dance 2
Dissatisfied: A passage in Dance 6
I explain in the video...
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Christian Vielen Dank for the lovely post! Sechs Deutsche Tänze is a great choice, as you will be able to complete the set - what a feeling that will be! My favourite moment in Dance No. 2 was a dream-like quality of the repeats. It gave the impression of being suddenly lost in thought in little world of you very own, for those few moments. Lovely.
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Monika Tusnady Thank you so much, Monika. I am afraid that the hesitation in the last repeat was due to the thought: "Where am I? How do I continue?" But I am glad you liked it :)
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Christian Thomsen Sounds lovely, Christian! Really sensitive playing. What a great set-up you have, too, with the Steinway! Ahh!!! Can't wait to hear more from you. :)
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Christian Thomsen lovely choice and playing. I like that you spoke your comments instead of typing! I look forward to hearing more.
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Christian Thomsen thanks for sharing your thoughts and your progress... those late dances are excellent little pieces. I'm presently trying to improve my reading by reading through all his dances, 1-2 per day, and I can't wait till I get to D820!
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I chose D664 sonata in A major.
Practicing this piece is like fresh air on my face. Andrew Tyson said the 1st mv feels like taking a walk in the forest.
I like the part from m21, where Schubert brings his signature triplets, and then change from major to minor.
Not yet satisfied with the part from m34, where right hand does arpeggio, fingering is still a little awkward.
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Qingzhi thank you for your beautiful playing! Andrew Tyson’s quote about the walk in the forest is somewhat surprising, unless he was thinking about the alternation of happy and dark thoughts that come to mind while walking along, an emotional contrast that you really highlighted.
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Qingzhi Nice playing, Qingzhi! It sounds with its charming atmosphere!
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Monika Thanks! I guess it is a walk with bright sunshine and dark shades that's why it is interesting
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Qingzhi Wonderful playing! That switch from major to minor is very nice.
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Qingzhi Thanks for sharing, it sounds lovely... you just added to my growing bucket list.
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Qingzhi Such a pretty opening. I can keep listening to it. Can’t wait to hear the rest.
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I am choosing Schubert’s Valses Sentimentales as I decided to play something completely new to me and they fit nicely in between my regular practice pieces. I have listened to all 34 and am playing numbers 18,20,21 and 23 after hearing them performed together really nicely on YouTube. So far I have sight read through them quickly. The challenge will be to bring out all the beautiful dynamics and kind of nostalgic mood, while maintaining the rhythmic waltz.
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Vidhya Bashyam Great choice!!
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Love this month's topic as I have not previously played Schubert.
- Piece you are working on:
I've selected Schubert's Impromptu #2, op 142 (D935) in Ab-major. It's considered the easiest of the Schubert impromptus, so I think it's something I can learn in 3 week's time. Despite its relative simplicity, however, I find it to be one of the most beautiful so have enjoyed learning it.
- One passage you are satisfied with:
The opening Allegretto and the opening Trio sections are standard chord/arpeggio progressions so were the fastest for me to learn.
- One passage you are not yet satisfied with:
Measure 76 in particular as I couldn't figure out the trill in the left-hand. It seems there's a debate as to whether it should be played between F# and G versus F# and G#. Initially, I had been playing it between E# and F# as there's a turn at the end of the trill where the E# is played (d'oh). I've also watched Alfred Brendel's performance, but with the camera angle his hand blocks the view to show the notes he's playing in the trill. The F# and G# trill sounds the best to me, so it's what I'm playing, but the measure is still difficult for me to smoothly transition into and out of at the moment so it's something I'm working on. Also, in the recordings I've listened to of the piece, the trill is played very subtlety so as to almost be unnoticed, but in my playing it sticks out like a sore thumb so needs to be worked on.
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Anthony Miyake Awesome!
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Hi, I'm Charlie, and I also chose to work on Op. 90, No. 3, a piece I've been studying off and on for about three years. This week I am focusing on the first two pages which I read through here:
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Charlie Gesualdo Another personal favourite of mine, which I am yet to tackle!
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