Week 2: First Impressions & Trouble Spots
Now that you've chosen your Schubert piece and spent some time with the score, it's time to share your early thoughts and challenges. Schubert’s music can be deceptively simple on the surface, but there's always something hidden in the phrasing, harmonies, or structure that invites deeper reflection.
🧠 Musical or Emotional First Impressions
What struck you when you first began working on your piece? Was it the mood, a particular modulation, the lyricism of the melody, or perhaps an unexpected harmonic twist?
What does this music say to you emotionally?
Are there any moments that feel especially personal or profound?
🔍 Trouble Spots: What’s Tripping You Up?
Every piece comes with its own set of technical or musical puzzles. Now’s the time to share:
Are there fingering passages that feel awkward or unclear?
Is voicing between the hands giving you trouble?
Are there rhythmic sections that feel unstable or hard to count?
Are you unsure how to shape certain phrases?
🎯 Use this thread to:
Ask for advice from fellow participants or mentors
Post short videos of the spots giving you trouble
Offer tips on how you’ve solved a challenge someone else might face
Bonus: Your questions will be answered by Dominic in an upcoming livestream TBD!
Remember: this week is all about process, not perfection. Let’s support each other in getting over the first hurdles and building a deeper connection to Schubert’s music.
61 replies
-
Ok, so week one passed.
What’s done:
- full recovery of the piece text wise and memory wise (well, with some obvious memory slips but that will improve). I haven’t touched it over one year.
Technical problems:- octaves in LH
- flow in LH, including voicing in the beginning (well and later on 😂)
To do in Week two:
- technical issues from week one
- dynamics - it’s too flat
- find the “perfect” tone
My piano is a bit out of tune but it is how it is - I’ll try to find some better piano for the next recording. For now here comes the “out-of-the-blue-on-the-first-go” version 🙂. All the comments and pieces of advice are highly welcome 🙂
-
I’ve been on vacation away from a piano, so I’ve been working on the piece entirely away from a piano. Yesterday, at a children’s play museum in Maine, there was a very-out-of-tune mini piano that I got to play. I didn’t have the score, and the bass F# that repeats was very flat (closer to F), so I had to transpose the bass line up an octave. It was an interesting exercise and I didn’t get very far before I started getting mixed up, haha.
I’ve been continuing to annotate the score (has my impressions etc also) and memorize progressions etc., which I’m not used to doing without adding muscle memory. I’m a bit scared of the middle, esp. the double trills (my LH trills are quite slow and if I let them “lead” it might sound unexciting), and occasional 6-over-4 fast bits, which tend to make me tense up…will be tricky to keep the stormy section together well.
-
Impromptu As moll op. 90 #4 . It has been a fun week learning the text and it seems going quite well. But I see a lot of risks in my practice already. With Schubert generally I have one major problem. His music kind of immediately finds the "hedonic spot" in my mind and once I get the notes I start binge-playing the piece until I practically ruin every bit of previous diligent work. At times, other composers can do that as well, but they are by far less addictive than this incredibly talkative, emotional and slightly self-loathing genius.
-
This little piece is cute and charming. I haven't worked on it much (we were gone for a few days so Thurmond could play his composition at the state conference ... on a 9' Bosendorfer!), so today was the first day I put hands together in the A section. I'm at about 1/2 tempo. I'm challenged by the accent being on the second beat in some measures, and in the B section there are times when it is on the 3rd beat. I'm trying to keep the left hand softer. I've included a short video of the A section without repeat.
-
Alrighty - here's our first attempt at playing the 4-hands piece. I played only the A section since I'm not yet confident enough with the B section to play it with someone else, but Thurmond went ahead and played through the B section (since this is supremely easy for him). The plan is to increase tempo just a bit, but he will play around and have fun on the repeats. The primary challenge I'm having is how close we are, I'm not accustomed to needing to limit my sideways movement! I expect Thurmond's challenge is slowing down for me. 🙂