In the competition I judged, I found that the students who had difficulty with this piece fell into two general categories. Some had not mastered the rhythm of the twos against threes-the basic math lesson and getting the feeling of the rhythm in their bodies. Others clearly felt and performed the rhythm, but had not taken the next vital step: having the mechanics serve the longer musical line.
Recently, when I was teaching this piece, my student worked quite diligently on coordinating the rhythms, being careful to keep the balance within the voices. Still, she did not hear the melodic shape until I pointed out the destination of the phrase. When I played it both musically and unmusically, her natural talent was easily mobilized-she could hear how the line worked and was surprised to find that the melody was not confined to just one measure; see the example below:
There is still one more rhythm challenge which occurs on the last page:
Grieg takes away the crutch for the RH by substituting dotted quarter notes for eighth notes in the LH. At first thought, this might seem to be easier, but then we realize that students really depend on those continuing eighth notes to help steady the RH, almost as a metronome would. Without them, the RH struggles to find the pulse and feels a bit abandoned. What tends to happen is that either students rush the twos in the RH, or they lose the rhythm of the twos, and the eighth notes end up sounding like triplets. I find it helpful to have students sing the RH melody while playing the LH. Giving words to the melody is also very helpful. I even have students walk around the room singing the melody in order to reinforce their ears while their bodies move along in a steady beat.
When all else fails, I demonstrate and/or tape record the correct and incorrect rhythm:
Click to the left to hear a typical rhythmically-incorrect
version (a little jazzy, isn't it?!)
(272k, WAV sound file)
Click to the right to hear the same
excerpt played as notated
(324k, WAV sound file)
Students can easily hear mistakes in other people's playing. I have students, themselves, play the correct and incorrect rhythms and tape them. Sometimes, this kind of aural "picture" is worth a thousand words.
The Grieg Nocturne is a mature musical work requiring many skills on different levels. It is a valuable study in the mechanics of playing two-against-three. More than that, it is an etude that practices how rhythm serves the musical line, how it subtly keeps it moving. When students really understand how to master this rhythm and make it work in this piece, they will approach the next piece with two-against-three with physical ease and a true enjoyment of bringing the composer's spirit alive.
Ed. note: Camille has been kind enough to record the entire Grieg Nocturne for us. Audio files on the web are quite large, especially if the length of time recorded is more than a few seconds. We have broken up the recording of the piece into sections, so that you can download whichever portion of the piece you would like. Most likely, within a few years, large audio files like these will not require a lot of time to download, but unfortunately, they still do. But we are sure you will enjoy hearing the artistic performance of the piece! Reminder: With most browsers, while the long audio file is downloading, you can travel around and read other pages on the website - then check periodically to see if the download is complete.
"A" Section |
"B" Section |
"A prime" section |
Coda |
If you have a keyboard synthesizer hooked up to your computer (or your keyboard has a floppie disk reader), click on the button below to get a standard-format MIDI file of the entire performance. Download this MIDI file only if you have a synthesizer outside of your computer! If you use your computer's built-in synthesizer to realize this performance, it will lack the dynamic range and nuances needed to communicate the points made in the article, plus the pedalling will most likely not sound right.
Entire piece
12k (tiny!!)
CAMILLE WITOS received her Bachelor and Master Degrees in piano performance from DePaul University in Chicago. In addition to her private studio, she has been on the faculty of the Music Center of the North Shore in Winnetka, Illinois, DePaul University Community Music School, and has taught in London, England. She performs frequently, both solo and chamber music, and has played live on WFMT, one of Chicago's classical radio stations.
Click to read Robyn Gibson's article answering this same question
Click to read the 1997 articles on teaching two-against-three
