“Looping” and “grouping” provide prompts for practicing relentless triplets in the opening section of Schubert’s Eb Impromptu.
Myriads of scale-like passages meander in unpredictable directions at times, often inserting half-steps under principle notes that carry a thread of melody that peaks with a sequence of secondary dominants to climax.
But of poignant beauty is an early transition from Eb Major to the parallel minor that comes with a dynamic shift to pianissimo. Simultaneously, the shape of phrases alters, requiring a change in choreography through broken chords and alternating scale passages.
In this video segment that focused on section one, an adult student worked on grouping triplets, looping or contouring them, and not crowding them. In the course of playing long lines, she was made aware of harmonic underpinnings that prompted “resolutions” of notes in the treble. (Bass line shaping was a concurrent focus)
Slow practicing is always recommended to preserve the concept of fast melody as tempo moves forward in graduated stages. (Contoured, curved phrasing, nonetheless, should be a consistent feature of all renderings in a layered learning process)
