Practicing Schubert Impromptu op. 90 no. 4

[aslanov]

hey, i've been trying to learn this impromptu for hte past few days. i jsut wanted to konw how you guys go about practicing the 16th notes. i've tried doing varying forms of accenting, but i assume that'll only get me so far. any suggestions?

[ramseytheii]

Melodically!

Walter Ramsey

[imbetter]

I've played this piece myself. The most important part is make totally sure you play the double in between groups of 16ths absolutely clearly and don't blur them together. If you can do this you'll be in pretty good shape. One other thing I'd advise is in the middle section make sure you get the melody notes to sing out over the accompaniment. This can be very difficult but you have to do it.


Help this helps.

[dan101]

I agree that the sixteenth notes must be crystal clear. The repeated note should be practiced (for example, the R.H. fourth to fifth note), as this is where many of my students have a break in fluency.

[aslanov]

oh the double notes has been no problem for me. i tried my own method of getting that down that has been very effective. what i'd do is, just play the first five notes (so the first double note set is played), and just stop, then the next group of 16th notes + the doubled note. and on and on, slowly but surely, that melody is quite clear now. the problem i get is around the last and sometimes second last group of 16th notes where everything seems to blur (ever so slightly, u can still hear the notes), but i guess more slow accented practicing will help that out.

btw, i watched horowitz play this on that "Last Romantic" documentary (in a rather unorthodox tempo) but my god was it beautiful, i got so many ideas from his playing it was amazing.