Other famous perpetuum mobiles from classical music include Debussy’s ‘Mouvement’ for piano (from the first book of Images), and Francis Poulenc’s Trois Mouvements perpétuels. Careless or over-pedalling won’t highlight these interior elements to the listener. My problem when I was learning this piece (or rather relearning – I first encountered it in my teens) was lifting the fingers too high, which produced a chunky, “notey” sound and interrupted the flow of the music. The repetitions of the melody make it a hypnotic piece, but the changes prevent it from being boring. But my teacher and I decided the movement was more like the windscreen wipers of a car: it’s an “out-in” movement rather than “in-out”. Grave – Doppio movimento (in Bb minor) 6:42 II. 35, is a piano sonata in four movements. - Piano Version, Liszt - Piano Sonata in B Minor - Yuja Wang, Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No. If you find joy and value in what I do, please consider making a donation to support the continuance of the site, “My instrument is my body, so it is always in flux, and my identity as a singer has gone through many transformations as a result”, The Case for Classical Music in a Crazy World, “I believe music feeds our souls. Speed the movement up so that the student understands that it is the rolling (“rotary”) movement of the wrist that makes the sound, rather than the fingers. 35, is a piano sonata in four movements. Grave - Doppio movimento 00:20 II. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. This popular work, often performed as an virtuosic encore, consists of nearly uninterrupted runs of chromatic semiquavers, with leitmotifs (Givdon’s themes) from the opera. After the introduction, the main melody is introduced and repeated in the right hand before the left hand joins in with a progression of stern chords in open 5ths and octaves. Meanwhile, enjoy experimenting with different dynamic levels for dramatic effect. In the end, I compromised on 1/8 pedal: like the Chopin Sonata, you don’t want a muddy sound (and I’ve heard plenty of live and recorded performances of this work with some very sloppy pedalling!). Scherzo 09:06 III. Examples from classical music include the presto finale of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. To practice it at the piano, start in a 5-1 position, G-C (either Middle C position or an octave higher, if more comfortable), and place the hand in a “karate chop” position on the G with the fifth finger. 4 – Buniatishvili, Piano, Piano Concerto No. Perhaps the most famous example of a musical perpetuum mobile is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee, an orchestral interlude from his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Several of my students have been learning and enjoying this well-known piece by the Penguin Café Orchestra, and so I thought it might be helpful to have some background. Allow the hand to “flop” onto C with the thumb, and repeat. Many teachers and tutor books describe rotary as “turning a doorknob” (an old-fashioned round doorknob, obviously) or turning cooker knobs. whole pieces, or large parts of pieces, which are to be played repeatedly, often an indefinite number of times. Further along in the score, and both hands play the melody unison, reflecting the string articulation in the original. 67 No. Examples from classical music include the presto finale of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. Everyone I’ve taught this piece to wants to play it fast, but to try and play it up to tempo before you have practised rotary motion and grown comfortable with it will lead to tension in the hand and possibly pain. 2 in B flat minor. The Cross-Eyed Pianist is free to access and ad-free, and takes many hours every month to research, write, and maintain. Keep the tempo sensible and perfect the rotary motion and good legato-playing before cranking it up. I taught myself to keep the fingers curled into the keys and to start with a slightly higher hand position: the result was a pleasing “trickling” effect in the long scalic runs, and the piece was far less tiring to play. Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. And the original, composed by Simon Jeffes: A shorter version of this article was published on my sister blog, Frances Wilson’s Piano Studio. 7, Precipitato - Yuja Wang, Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. Careful pedalling will, in part, create the desired effect but the sound should never become woolly or muddy: we want to hear every single note. 6 – Yuja Wang, Satie – Gnossienne No. A friend of mine has adapted the music for easy piano (Grade 2-3 level), and although simplified, the music retains key features from the original, including the harmonic and textural changes. 0:00 I. I. The two-bar melody, which is scored in 7/8 and 4/4, contains an octave leap which might be tricky for smaller hands.