23. Tarantella

I'm still in the process of learning this song, and my current method of learning, one that involves sight reading through (as opposed to memorising), is rather new to me, since I've only very recently developed the skill of being able to read my way through a piece. I'm not actually sure if this process terminates in memorisation, or even if the latter's a more desirable outcome than merely being able to play while having the score before my eyes. But this is where I am with this piece: I can play it while the score's available. I now realise (while writing this) that I haven't actually tried to do it without the score, and the reason is that I've been trying to keep my eyes on the music while playing. This is more difficult than it sounds. I've been known to be looking at the score while playing, but not actually following it—looking through it, or something. It appears that trying to correct that aspect of pianism has deflected me from my more usual method of abandoning the score (with prodigious celerity) the second I can remember what's in it. I usually don't even bother opening the book once I'm satisfied I have every note memorised—so averse was I to reading. I guess I could try this again without the score to see what happens. Will update. As it stands, I like the way my hand bounces off the high A and onto the lower one when playing the "two-note slur" in the first bar above. J.T. (not surprisingly) advises that we pay close attention to these slurs, as they are characteristic of the tarantella. Also, the rolling action of the hand on the triple quavers is also pretty sweet.

(Update: I remembered enough of the piece to give good practice material for the following day's session—more than enough, even—but one or two of the variations got mixed up.)

Here's an octave-spanning section (top right) that mutates to an A-minor chord. I must have found the section interesting (or was it difficult?) while playing it, since I chose to take pictures of it for the blog. Once I got to cropping the pics, though, I couldn't remember what I'd found so interesting about an E octave. Perhaps I anticipated discussing the variation on this phrase that occurs later in the text (bottom right). This octave takes a different path to the A minor. Notice, the second group of notes (in both staves) are a shuffled version of those in the first picture: the notes are the same, but held with different hands and in different registers. So maybe the comparison that section affords with its second incarnation justifies my inclusion of the pic? It's interesting to think about the decisions composers make. John Thompson composed this, actually. I was glad to play one of his songs, since I'm so indebted to his pedagogy, and this song's really fun. Vivace is the pace indicated for this piece, and this means (J.T. insists) that it should be played quite fast. Maybe memorisation is in order! (I'm anticipating—and dreading—another composition of his that shows up in the fourth grade book. It is called Nocturne, and it's written for left hand only.)

This section mimics the rhythm of the opening, but naturally varies the melody. The second group of quavers does an interesting manoeuvre that (accidentally, get it?) causes it to deviate from the A-minor natural scale pattern. It rolls off the fingers with the indicated fingering, though, and it sounds cool. It also leads to another interesting variant that contains some pretty elegant finger work: 1-2-5. I know, it looks pedestrian on the page, but when the fingers do it, it turns out pretty slick—partly because the 1 and 2 play the same note in succession.

Here (top right) is another variation on the beginning theme, but with a new chord in the left hand: an Amaj7 variation (with the 5th dropped), or I guess it could be an Esus variation, with the 5th augmented (twice?). I dunno... but it works, and sounds as though it's taking the opening theme to another level. After this is where the variation on the E octave (discussed above) comes in, and then the A-minor "chord" following that is really a scalish passage that ends the song. It's pictured here (bottom right), and notice how the left hand infiltrates the progression at regular intervals to insert a G#. It ends on an A-minor chord (not pictured), one that drops the C in the left hand and holds C and A in the right. A grand exit: (quietly) brillante!

(Learning this took 60 minutes: a personal record.)

Alan Chan's Rendition