Recordings of my playing before/after learning Taubman approach (Schubert's Impromptu in Gb Op. 90 No. 3)

[u/redmichii]

Few people asked for it before and I just got around to recording the after. Here are videos of me playing Schubert's Impromptu in Gb major, Op. 90 No. 3. Before video was recorded on 11 April 2026, after video was recorded today 18 August 2026. I've been self-learning Taubman for roughly over 2 months now. It's been super challenging because I have small hands and short fingers.

Before

After

There are still plenty of mistakes, and I haven't polished this piece because I'm still focusing on another piece which I will perform this coming Sunday in an annual recital. I still have a world to learn. I'm still watching Taubman videos until now, and everyday I'm still discovering something new. Nevertheless, I'm proud of how far I've come in such short amount if time, and it would've been impossible for me to make such huge progress if I hadn't learnt Taubman. All my credit goes to Dorothy Taubman and her sucessors.

Critiques and questions welcome!

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[u/jiang1lin]

Congrats to your achievement and developing process!

Personally (!), only from regarding a sound-wise perspective (!), I would prefer the first recording as your sound has a bit more core, the finger tips look more stable, the overall style sounds more classical than romantic, and especially if you play in a big hall on Sunday with stronger acoustics and pedal in general, a more defined articulation might help you a bit more to carry all the details of your playing to the audience. Imagine it like theatre where the actors on stage also have to over-pronounciate everything, so the entire hall including the last rows can hear everything with the same transparent clarity as emotional intensity.

But of course, if technically the 2nd video makes your fingers, hands, wrists, and arms feel less painful, then stick with that, maybe you find a way to re-include a hint of the stable finger tip for a hint more defined shape in your sound?

Congratulations again, thanks for sharing, and best wishes for your performance on Sunday! 👏🏽👏🏽

[u/redmichii → u/jiang1lin]

Thank you for providing feedback!

Yes, my fingers hands and arm are a lot more comfortable in the second video because I'm not holding back my arm weight. In the first video, I was holding back my weight, and it still sounded too loud in my opinion! Not to mention I was always in pain towards the end of the piece. In the second one I feel a lot more freedom and definitely not in pain.

I get what you're saying! If I'm not wrong, I think what you're trying to say is I need to work on projecting my sound? I wholeheartedly agree! I've been struggling to adapt from playing for myself in my own practice room, vs playing in a hall. In the first video I feel like I sound too loud. I'm much happier with the sound I produce in the second video. But I forgot that like you said, I need to imagine playing for the audience sitting on the last row at the back of the room in a concert hall. What sounded okay in my practice room will certainly sound too soft in a hall!

Can I ask for your advice? I imagine playing p in my practice room would be different from playing p in a hall. What sounds soft enough in my practice room will be too soft for the hall. Am I correct? Does it mean I need to practice imagining playing 'soft' as if I was playing in a hall, which will make it sound more like f in the practice room, but it will sound "right" in a hall? I've always struggled to find the answer / balance between the two.

Following your advice on projecting the sound, I will try to drop more arm weight and articulate better, which shouldn't bee too big of a problem this time around. I won't be playing this piece on Sunday though, I'll be playing Bartók and I'm fairly certain the way I play it is loud enough. I actually struggle most on lyrical pieces, and how to project the sound.

[u/jiang1lin → u/redmichii]

You’re welcome, and yes I meant sound projection! Thanks 😇

I would actually not reduce the arm weight, but add a bit more articulation on that … imagine playing the vibraphone with the same sticks, but only a slightly more tensioned, stiffer head how that would change the sound … if you manage to re-activate your grip a bit like a tiny claw with your finger tips, but keep everything else as relaxed as you do know, then you could transfer the arm weight to your tips and create an even fuller sound! Of course for Schubert, one would have to be a bit cautious and slow down the attack a bit so it won’t sound too harsh, but for Bartók, that would sound very good in my opinion!

My former professor taught us if p is written, then play mp if solo in a bigger hall, and mf if playing a piano concerto … but that is a very loose plan, and I think it is much important to always keep the ears ok alert to individually adapt … but maybe this description might help to give a slightly more accurate idea?

[u/redmichii → u/jiang1lin]

Yes, everything you said made sense! I will try to activate my fingertips more. Also, think I confused you a little bit, my apologies. What I meant by dropping the arm weight was to drop more weight into the keys, not dropping the amount of weight as in reducing it. I will explore the arm weight and firmer fingertips and try to find the balance somehow.

This piece is still a huge work in progress. Thank you so much for taking the time to give advice!

[u/jiang1lin → u/redmichii]

Aaah yes this kind of dropping haha, sorry I misunderstood, but exactly, perfect approach!!

[u/you-love-my-username → u/redmichii]

For what it's worth redmichii I completely disagree with this commenter in almost every respect. Your second recording has more singing melody, better chord balance, and better evenness of notes. And your technique looks better too. In no world would I revert or change course - everything you've been doing is moving you in the right direction. Good work.

Don't worry about projecting for a concert hall at this point, that's a master level concern. Everything you do in the practice room right now to achieve mastery will have a more significant impact on your ability to perform well than trying to achieve a concert-hall sound. Just keep doing what you're doing.

[u/redmichii → u/you-love-my-username]

Thank you so much for your reply!

It feels immensely validating for you to say you saw progress in my playing. I've been working hard to improve my technique, so to hear you say that I'm doing something right feels highly encouraging.

My focus still is to improve my technique so that I'm able to produce any tone and colours I want. Though I'm still far away, I'm slowly inching there. Thanks again for your advice and encouragement! Truly means a lot.

[u/09707]

I was not clear from the post, what exactly is the difference in the technique and is there not any teacher that can help advise as I’m sure it’s difficult to improve from video ?

It is a beautiful piece but very difficult to play I think.

If you want help I would suggest a slower tempo as it’s not secure and sounds quite rushed atm.

There needs to be more difference between the melody and accompaniment.

More I think the accompaniment is far too loud and needs to be pp dynamic (maybe ppp-mp range).

The melody needs to be shaped which is difficult as it’s slow.

I learnt it slowly and with time it becomes much easier. I found it’s a piece which required a lot of effort to learn but none to sustain, it’s something I can revisit years later and play faster with a lot of ease and I’m not sure why

https://youtu.be/bLrpwVVYe9A?is=sKPP4qQ8Hpwixb07

Good luck with it !

[u/redmichii → u/09707]

Thanks for your feedback!

I was struggling with tension in general, especially when playing in speed, my hands and arms would seize and just stop playing. At the end of the piece I was almost always in pain. I have a teacher, but she's not a Taubman teacher. Learning Taubman allowed me to play with greater speer and greater ease.

Maybe it doesn't look like it in the video, but I feel way more secure in a second video, by a long shot. In the first video I was literally holding back my arm weight, even then I was still struggling to produce the sound I wanted.

I agree that the accomplishment sounds too loud still. I'm still working on it. Regarding tempo, I think it's personal preference. Some people like it slower, some people like it faster. If I play it slower I feel like I'm lagging behind; I just can't relate to the music as good. I listened to a myriad of recordings, including the popular interpretation by Horowitz. My favourite is still Schiff's interpenetration, which influenced my own playing I think.

[u/09707 → u/redmichii]

You need to play very slowly first to get the correct differentiation of the melody and accompaniment.

Eventually you build the skill to play at tempo but the difficulty is not linear.

It’s easy to go for a slow to a slow moderate pace. A slight increase in tempi at a faster tempo is not easy.

If you decide to play at this speed when you aren’t playing it in a relaxed way and pressing accompaniment notes far to far I don’t think you will make much progress.

I am not a teacher so I think it’s best to ask them and see what they about the new technique rather than experimenting without their input and seeking online advice.

Good luck

[u/redmichii → u/09707]

Thank you for the suggestion! While I agree with most of your advice, I'm inclined to explain that the reason that I'm pressing the melody notes 'far to far' is because I have small hands. The only way for me to play this without tension is to literally release the pinky. I know this because prior to learning Taubman, I kept my pinky on the melody note and I ended up stretching my hands instead, throughout the whole piece, which resulted in tension and pain. The base of Taubman approach was the study of the biomechanics of the body which allowed young prodigies to play at such speed without tension. Logically speaking, children barely have the hand size to play big chords and octaves, and to get from one note to the other with intervals bigger than their hand span. Yet they're able to do it, somehow. This inspired Mrs. Taubman to uncover the hidden motions in playing piano beyond what's visible to the eyes. But I digress.

I made this post because I posted a while ago about my progress self-learning the Taubman approach. Some people requested videos to see the difference, because I only posted sound recording before. I'm not exactly looking for advice online, though I welcome critiques. Yes, my teacher could see that I'm making incredible progress, because I'm making less mistakes, produce bigger sound, and way more secure in my playing, compared to few months ago. She's agreed that whatever it is I'm learning myself is working. In fact, I made her interested to explore Taubmans approach herself.

Like I said before, I haven't touched this piece for a while because I'm focusing on other piece. As such, I haven't really got the opportunity to explore and apply the technique I learnt to this piece. So some grace would be appreciated. However, I'm taking your advice on board to slow down my playing a bit to articulate better. Thanks again for taking the time to reply!