Danse maigre

Description

Skinny Dance, as its title translates, is a small A minor piece in 2/4 from the 1913 set Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois (Sketches and Provocations of a Big Wooden Fellow). Placing a lean, wiry dance inside a set about a hulking wooden figure shows Satie's ironic sense of humour at work.

It is in A minor and 2/4. At only about one minute seventeen seconds yet some 683 notes, it is dense, with fine figures in constant motion. The bony, thin-lined movement of the notes suggests the skinniness of the title, and a light, dry sound prevails throughout.

Rated intermediate, its bass goes below a 61-key keyboard, so 76 keys or more suit it. It demands close attention to rhythmic nuance and the finger independence to keep crowded notes light. The surest approach is to slow the playback to learn the figures and fingering, loop the fast passages with A-B, and raise the tempo step by step. Checking with the hand colours which hand carries the motion helps keep it even.

A broad collection of standalone piano pieces not belonging to any specific set, offering hundreds of varied character pieces to explore and compare.