From the course: Piano Lessons: 3 Sight Reading & Classical Pieces
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Analysis: Part 1
From the course: Piano Lessons: 3 Sight Reading & Classical Pieces
Analysis: Part 1
- The first Gymnopedie by Erik Satie is a fantastic exercise in left-hand jumping dexterity. The key thing is going to be understanding how to use your thumb as a targeting reticule and how to take advantage of the time and space between chords to quickly re-position yourself for the next jumps. The whole piece needs to be played very lightly, very delicately, and lots of pedal. The pedal's going to be critical to make sure that everything sounds smooth and connected. So let's take a look at this piece. The first thing we want to take the notice of is the key signature. There are two sharps, F sharp, C sharp. That tells me we are in the key of D major. So every time we see an F and a C, we're going to make sure they have sharps applied to them. Okay, so left-hand, you have these amazing jumps that sound so beautiful. Okay. Now what you want to do is, of course, have your pedal engaged. One tip to find these jumps quickly is perhaps to practice just the bottom note and the top note and…
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