Gymnopedie No. 1

Learn this piece

Composer

Erik Satie

Level

Advanced

Key

B minor

Metre

3/4

Tempo

60 BPM

Length

47 bars, about 4 minutes

Hands

both

Trains

A wide-spanning left hand alternating a low bass note with a chord high above it (up to a two-and-a-half-octave leap), unmarked, player-chosen pedalling, ties held across barlines and soft, patient dynamic shading (pp/p/f) at a slow tempo.

How to practise it

• Bars 1-4 are your left hand alone: a low note, then a chord high above it. Practise them with the Metronome at 40 BPM until the leap lands softly on beat 2.
• From bar 5 the tune comes in pp in the right hand. Let it float above the left hand and keep both hands soft.
• In bars 9-12 the right hand holds one F♯ across four bars. Hold it full value and count the beats while your left hand keeps moving.
• The piece is played twice: the first time you take bars 32-39, the second time bars 40-47. Listen for the last chord, which turns from D major to D minor.

Where this score came from

Licence: Public domain

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=37

Credit: Typeset by Evin Robertson for the Mutopia Project (Mutopia-2014/12/14-37) from the Dover edition (a reprint of the original), and placed in the public domain by the typesetter.

More at this level

• La Candeur (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 1) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• Ballade (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 15) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• l'Arabesque (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 2) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20 Frédéric Chopin
• Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 ("Largo") Frédéric Chopin