Étude Polyrithmique

A short study in 3-2 cross-rhythms. It took me half an hour to invent it on the piano and another half hour to write it down by hand (and another 30 min. to copy roughly into Sibelius) - man I'm slow... :ninja:

I'm wondering how difficult it is precisely. The tempo is set on 174-192, which looked feasable enough for me. Is this to high? :)

Enjoy! :D

[EDIT: there's now a nice PDF attached :P ]

[EDIT2: I've improved the PDF]

As this is an etude, I am assuming that there are certain specific details that are being adressed in this piece, but I don't know what they are. I just know the piece sounds very good, and I didn't notice any obvious deficiencies in the rhythm. The ending did sound a bit impossible to me, though.

Yes, the end is almost impossible technically, but the first part of the song is definitely playable. As far as melody goes, it kind of stays the same throughout. Since you're in a minor key, go down to the 6th, I find that helps when I reach a point in a song where I want to go back to the root...go down to the 6th, usually gives it a nice feel. I don't want to change the musicality of it. The time difference in the left/right hands kind of reminds me of Fantasie Impromtu by Chopin, where the time signature is 4/4 and the left hand is playing triplet 8th notes while the right hand is playing 16th notes throughout. Defenitely a step in that direction if I might say so myself. Interesting style though, I like the chords, they're not solid minor or major, kind of threw in some 6ths there.

-T

Originally posted by ChrisLK+Aug 26 2005, 06:47 AM-->

The ending did sound a bit impossible to me, though.

I'm talking about bar 71 to the end, the last 2 measures of the song...that's quite impossible to play "a tempo" on the piano.

Originally posted by Tyler JOhnson@Aug 27 2005, 09:20 AM

I'm talking about bar 71 to the end, the last 2 measures of the song...that's quite impossible to play "a tempo" on the piano.

I took a little practice, but I could pull it off. But I'll make an ossia, thanks for the advice! :D

The "6th" just refers to the 6th note in that scale. Say you're in C minor. The C minor scale is C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C. The 6th would be Ab. What I was saying was instead of going back to the C at that one part, try going to Ab. They have an almost identical key signature, and a unique sound by doing so nonetheless. So it doesn't clash.

-T

Interesting little etude. A good sense of vitality here. Not a lot of interesing melody, but this is pretty short.

The only thing that caught me by surprise ws the sudden disappearance of the notes at measure 24. That felt a bit awkward and unnatural. I kinda like the ending though.