Fantaisie Impromptu

[ranjit]

This is pretty much the best I can do at this point.

PS. I promise this is my last recording of this piece for the year!

[anacrusis]

Nice work. It sounds like you have the capacity to play this quickly in you. Two thoughts:

• In both this and an earlier post the tempo you play the arpeggios at the start, before the right hand enters, is very different from when the sixteenths start. You can drag the first arpeggio figure a bit if you want but make sure you find your tempo before the right hand enters, so that the tempo has been firmly established from the beginning.
• I think to continue improving this piece you need to practice slowly and make sure you don't stop/stumble/make mistakes. You know how to play fast and are capable of playing this at the required tempo. So you don't need more fast practice now; what you need now is slow, careful work to clean it up and make it more secure, and you'll be golden!
  

[ranjit]

Nice work. It sounds like you have the capacity to play this quickly in you.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm not really sure if I do have the capacity to play this quickly, though, if I am being honest. Although I can literally speaking manage the velocity, I'm not able to make all of the notes in the fast passages sound distinct like they do on professional recordings, and am honestly still a bit stumped at how it is done.

I think to continue improving this piece you need to practice slowly and make sure you don't stop/stumble/make mistakes.

I agree that it would make the performance smoother. I still get the feeling that I'm missing something which would prevent me from playing it well at a fast tempo from a technical perspective, even apart from the numerous stumbles in the performance.

[stringoverstrung]

Hello,

well done. I am sure you can still get to the next level because there are parts that are really well done.

I agree that it would make the performance smoother. I still get the feeling that I'm missing something which would prevent me from playing it well at a fast tempo from a technical perspective, even apart from the numerous stumbles in the performance.

Of course I cannot judge but it seems that in fast some fast passage you might push the keys a bit forcefully to achieve "Max speed". The key to all speed is relaxation (watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PH0SV4j1Es at 2:43-2:50 and compare the 2 persons in the shot.)

You might try to investigate the minimum amount of effort needed to push a key by tapping your right hand for the fast passages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0MBf4GgI7k
 

why not:
some staccato practice
some pianissimo practice
rhythms
to actively investigate reducing amplitude of movement in slow practice might help as well

[dw4rn]

The key to all speed is relaxation (watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PH0SV4j1Es at 2:43-2:50 and compare the 2 persons in the shot.)

Fun comparison with Usain Bolt - and inspiring to be sure, but still somewhat unclear - what would be Bolt's equivalent of finger tapping?

I'm not really sure if I do have the capacity to play this quickly, though, if I am being honest. Although I can literally speaking manage the velocity, I'm not able to make all of the notes in the fast passages sound distinct like they do on professional recordings, and am honestly still a bit stumped at how it is done.

Ranjit - you've done a great job on this piece, but if this is how you feel, I wonder if maybe you should leave it aside for the moment. Perhaps you could start on another piece with similar challenges, and do all the slow practice etc really conscientiously right from the start. I am sure you have it in you, but these things must be allowed to take time. I don't know when you posted your first version, but I get the feeling you've worked pretty intensely on this piece for a while now.

[quantum]

You are making good progress on this piece.  The A section is continuing to gain fluidity.  For the B section you can work on the transitions between some of chord changes, to make the flow better into one another.  Finger legato does not always need to be preserved between chord changes, and you can lift in order to prepare for the downbeat of the next chord change. 

dw4rn has a good suggestion on taking a break from this, and learning other material.  Often taking a break is beneficial to learning, as it allows our mind to continue working on the piece in other ways.  You could choose something that builds upon the technique you learned in this piece.

[stringoverstrung]

Fun comparison with Usain Bolt - and inspiring to be sure, but still somewhat unclear - what would be Bolt's equivalent of finger tapping?

I am not saying there is an equivalent in running but these are all ways of relaxing.
I do not know what Bolt did but maybe start with:
https://www.stack.com/a/relax-and-run-faster-an-olympic-sprinter-reveals-why-relaxation-is-essential-to-sprint-speed/#:~:text=Another%20way%20to%20run%20faster,through%20your%20arm%20and%20shoulders.