I'm working on Chopin's Prelude Op.28? Number 4 (the very slow, easy one), and I encountered a triplet (RH) against 2 notes on the let hand...I can never figure out these 2 agst 3, 3 agst 4 thing...can someone pls help! I need very specific detail explanation, since I'm not that bright when it comes to rhythms!! Thanks in advance.

-- Faye Chu (dornachu@yahoo.com), May 17, 2002

Answers

To learn 2 vs 3, instead of doing it with many notes do it with the middle C. Your two thumbs are in the middle C. Play C-D-E-F-E-D with your right hand and C-B-A-B with your left hand (you do it in a constant repetition). Your thumbs must hit the middle C at the same time. Then do C-B-A-G-A-B with left and C-D-E-D and repeat repeat. The purpose of this is to rhytmically dissociate your hands.

To play 4v3 or 3v4 do the same exercise, but the hand that played eights must now play sixteenth.

Yeah that seems completely stupid, but that's why it works, you don't have to think about the notes, just the rythm. When you don't remember how the rythm sound, re-do that, back & forth from your prelude to that exercise

(sorry if I do syntax errors, this is not my native language)

-- Olivier Cyr (soran94@hotmail.com), May 22, 2002.