29. Melody

This Melody by Massenet is pleasant to hear and tricky to replicate, at least initially. The left hand notes fill the gaps between those of the right hand, and because the latter is always behind (or ahead) by a semiquaver, it's a little weird translating the strange way this delay appears on the page into the syncopation it represents in the hands. But it's actually not all that tricky in practice if you can manage to decouple the rhythm in your brain from its representation on the page. The right hand just comes in a half beat later and then maintains that rhythm, so all you're really doing is alternating hands—beating out a delayed but regular accompaniment with the right hand. (Yes, the melody is mostly in the left for a change.) The complexity of the text's appearance is partially in answer to the question of how to breach the bar lines. The weird-looking tie between two semiquavers at the end/beginning of each measure could otherwise have been represented by two semiquavers connected by a beam and straddling the line. (I'm pretty sure I've seen that done before.) It's better—even easier—this way though because you do want to simplify reading by keeping the quavers in groups of four.

This complicated section seems that way because of the difference in length of all the notes in it. It takes some practice to get the fingers to work independently like that. Notice the portamento indicated by the legato slur spread over the staccato notes. Paradox of all paradoxes! Well, not quite. It just means play the notes in a sustained but detached manner. (This was introduced in the opening of Schubert's Serenade.) The left hand seems to have it the worst, having to come in at the last possible moment of the note's lifetime (see E in the centre of the bar above-right). Furthermore, the several branches (leaves? petals?) of the demisemiquaver rests make the bar look even more complicated than it actually is. But since you gotta account for all the moments in a measure, there's no getting around it.

The song ends with an arpeggio that begins on E and extends for more than 2 octaves all the way up to B. Within that span, two broken E minor chords are played, anchored by the Es on both sides. The effect is to re-emphasises the song's E minor signature, apparent in the first two pictures shown, and to give the piece a sense of closure. I love the minor mode!

Alan Chan's rendition