A Schubert Practice!

Schubert has gotten the short shrift for a couple of days. Not that I'd planned it that way, of course. It's just that I'm at a place in the Schubert that isn't lending itself to micro-practices. I need time to work through a whole section.

Plus, it's kind of hard.

I focused on measures 230 to 238 today. It's where the familiar scale-y E-flat theme takes an interesting turn in the chromatic section (specifically, measure 232). I was having a little trouble with the fingering in the left hand (5 or 4? 5 or 4?) and was stumbling a little on the chromatic stuff. I played with the fingering in both hands and finally figured out my 5's and 4's in the LH. It's not that different from what I did with the Bach earlier today: arranging the fingering so to allow as little effort as possible for me.

I also think I have a good fingering pattern worked out in the RH.

Another challenge for today was switching from the chromatics to the downward F-minor scale in measure 237. You can see that I'm doing a similar three-note pattern in the previous measures, to the switch to a scale wasn't happening as smoothly as I wanted. So I drilled that until it felt natural:

I also got started on the main theme, which starts a few measures before. It's in E-flat major. My big challenge there is that most of the end of the piece has been in E-flat minor, so that's what I've been learning. The switch to E-flat major was not easy! So my next few practices will be on this big section: the E-flat major theme into this chromatic switch, to the end of the page (all in E-flat minor), to just where the coda begins.

I also played through the coda (also E-flat minor) a few times at a super-slow pace, just to make sure I still have it. And I do.

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Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

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