How To Teach Schubert Moment Musicaux No.5
Today we’re talking about how to teach Moment Musicaux No.5 in F Minor by Franz Schubert. This is an impressive late-intermediate piece with a lot of character. Be sure to watch until the end when I discuss two Schubert trademarks found in this piece.
Recommended edition:
Henle urtext edition of the Impromptus and Moments Musicaux
Alfred Masterworks: Schubert - Impromptus, Opp. 90, 142, & Moments Musicaux, Op. 94 (Murray Baylor)
Syllabus listings for difficulty level:
Illinois AIM Level 11
Jane Magrath Level 9-10
Skills and Knowledge Required to play this piece well:
F Minor key signature and chords
Ability to accurately read accidentals and understand shifting harmony
Octave and four-note chord technique
Big leaps
Warm, round tone on big chords
Shaping of phrases
Schubert trademark #1: Quick extreme dynamic changes
Schubert trademark #2: Parallel minor to major shift
Note that I did not include a discussion of chord voicing in this video. The information I was able to include already made for a long video, and all of the topics covered would be prerequisites for me before doing much work on voicing, which can be an arduous task for an intermediate student. Students absolutely should know where the melody lies in the hand and, once comfortable with the other technical challenges, work on calibrating the weight towards those notes to naturally highlight the melody.
I also did not give a recommendation for tempo. If you listen to a variety of professional recordings, you will hear a variety of tempos, such as very fast (Brendel) and much more moderate (Lupu) which I am linking here. I encourage you and your students to do a lot of listening!
In my video, I mentioned this book by Elvina Pearce which goes over several helpful practice techniques which have helped me be a better teacher. Click the image to order or learn more.
The is an Amazon affiliate link.
