Description
The first of the three Gymnopédies Satie published in 1888, and a piece without which the story of twentieth-century French music cannot be told. The title refers to an ancient Spartan festival at which young men are said to have danced naked. What brought the long-obscure Satie to notice was Debussy's orchestration of the first and third of the set in 1897.
The score is marked "slow and painful." A triple-time accompaniment repeats evenly while the melody drifts above it, never hurrying and never building. The harmony turns on chords containing sevenths, moving from one to the next without hastening to resolve. Across two and a half minutes there are only some 280 notes.
With so few notes and no fast motion, reading it is easy for a beginner — but it is not an easy piece. The left hand must keep its pulse without turning mechanical, and the right must not be made to sing too much. This is music that works by doing nothing, so the real task is resisting the urge to add expression.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
What this piece teaches
Gymnopédie No. 1, marked "slow and painful". A triple-time accompaniment repeats evenly while the melody drifts above it, unhurried, over chords containing sevenths that move on without rushing to resolve. Enduring doing nothing is where this path starts.
How to practise it
- Keep the left hand's bass-and-chord triple time steady without making it mechanical. Get the left hand through on its own first.
- Do not over-sing the right hand. Where you are tempted to shape it, try playing it flat.
- Change the pedal where the left-hand bass changes. There are no pedal indicators here, so check by ear that the previous sound does not blur into the next.
Practice guides using this piece
Reading the falling notes, and practising with them
What the position, length, colour and brightness of each falling note mean, plus the guide lines, the pedal display and the switch to sheet music.
Connecting a MIDI keyboard and using practice mode
How to connect a digital piano or MIDI keyboard to the browser, and how practice mode waits for the right keys - and what it does not check.
About the Composer
Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Erik Satie was a French composer from Honfleur who worked in Montmartre's cabarets while pursuing a highly individual musical aesthetic. Known for spare, understated music and whimsically titled works, he later influenced minimalist and ambient music. This site includes the Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes, along with "Danse maigre."
View all works by Satie →