Friday, April 30, 2010

Melody Bober's Moonlight Fantasy

This is another of my favorite songs of all time to play.  It's got a fairly tricky rhythm in one section, with triplets in the right hand played against eighth notes in the left.  It has several different sections, which makes it easier to learn in pieces, although it's still fairly difficult to learn.  I played it much too fast in this video, so maybe I'll have a video soon where I play more slowly.  Here's a little breakdown, if you want to try to follow it in the video:
Section 1: Played in D Minor, only lasts for a few lines (from 0:09-0:24 in the video), but makes for a very dramatic opening.  Some broken and whole chords, followed by an arpeggio coming down, then ending with a chromatic scale going up and blending into Section 2.
Section 2 (0:24-1:03): Starts out very slowly and dramatically, but gets faster and more active by the end.  Mostly scales in the left hand accompanying the melody in the right.
Section 3 (1:03-1:35): This is to be played much more quickly than Section 2, and it has a difficult rhythm.  Triplets in the right hand against eighth notes in the left make this part hard to get right without a lot of practice.  However, I find it a fairly impressive part to play, and it leads into an even more impressive part.
Section 4 (1:35-2:34): As the song moves on, it becomes more and more impressive, and because of that, it becomes even more and more difficult to play.  This section starts off with a progression of broken chords, continues into some awesome octaves, and ends with the same, except for a break of 32nd notes (!!) in the middle.  It's a very active section, but very fun to play, and listeners will enjoy it.
Section 5 (2:34-2:38): This is the hardest section to play.  I had to record it several times before I got this section just right.  It starts off with 16th notes played at 132 bpm, and it accelerates from there.  The beginning is a forward-and-backwards chord progression going downhill, and then goes to a chord progression coming uphill.  It slows down slightly and ends with a series of dramatic chords.  This is the most intense section of the song and will take lots of practice before you get it right.
Overall, a very cool and impressive song to play and a very good exercise for your fingers and for your brain, trying to keep track of everything that's going on.  If you'd like the sheet music, please visit PianoFiles.com and email me.  Thanks for reading, and good luck!

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