Welcome the first in the two part series of how to play the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata. This lesson will cover how to control voicing in the famous 1st movement.
Learning to balance the hands is one of the most challenging aspects of learning to play the piano. It gets even harder when playing the Moonlight Sonata because you have two different parts in one hand and you want to play one part louder than the other – using only one hand. This is truly a challenge and will definitely take some practice to master.
I’m going to provide some techniques to help you practice this part of the Moonlight Sonata but this is intrinsic information when it comes to piano playing; you can use these techniques for all your music!
(If you are not familiar with the first movement of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, you should be able to get the score on line.)
In this particular part you have two parts with the right hand – triplets on the bottom and a slow melody on top. The difficulty is compounded because the longer melody notes fade out while the accompaniment triplets keep repeating and are therefore naturally louder; so how do you balance the two?
If you try and play some notes louder than others you might not be able to achieve this at first. You might wonder how you would ever be able to practice something like that. There is a great technique to remedy this!
Instead of just practicing louder and softer with the right hand, practice with two completely different articulations. Play the melody legato and play the accompaniment part staccato (from the fingers); this will give you control.
By practicing in this extreme manner it will help to identify the feel of the melody compared to the accompaniment. Practice playing the accompaniment very lightly and play with just a touch of the fingers, not the wrist.
When you do play the piece as written – with the legato triplets on the bottom – feel that you are reaching for the melody notes on top and you will be able to control the sound from the fingers.
It is very important in your initial practice to not use the pedal; so you can accomplish the independence of your fingers from one-another and hear the voices clearly. The pedal is literally the last thing you add.
This is a technique you can use in all your music to bring out melodies. I’m very interested to hear any input or advice you might have regarding this technique. Thanks again for watching.
13 thoughts on “How to Play the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata – Part 1 (The 1st Movement)”
Thank you so much for the “different articulation” instruction. I am working on it now.
Once you get comfortable playing with different articulations between the voices, you will be able to bring out the melody easily!
Thanks for the tip. Your usual helpful hints are always appreciated.
Could you explain more about how to reach for the melody notes.
Reach with your fingers towards the notes you want to bring out instead of just pushing them down. You may have a melody on top in which you move your 5th and 4th fingers towards the top notes to bring out the melody. You can also lean to the side of the hand which you sent to bring out notes (which would typically be the right hand side of your right hand).
My Ukrainian Master teacher actually told me to do the opposite. Press down INTO the keys deeply. Was she wrong? She studied with the sister of Vladimir Horowitz. So I would find that hard to believe…
That is exactly right. But if you lean the weight equally to all fingers, you can’t bring out the melody. You can lean towards one side of the hand to get some distinction for melody. But only by controlling the sound with the specific fingers reaching for melody notes can you get ultimate control of the voices you want to bring out.
I do not understand what you mean by reaching for the melody. Could you explain this concept?
Thanks for the great tip on developing independent dynamics within the same hand.
Nice idea, as long as student is comfortable most of the time playing legato and can make the switch all right.
btw, I never use any pedal with this. Beethoven’s “senza sordino” applied to a piano with much less life, and on our pianos I think just muddies things.
thanks.
Thank you, Bob, for all the effort you put into these simple but valuable presentations. From the ones I have watched I have learned a great deal. Your enthusiasm is contagious and your playing enviable. Gary
The staccato technique works well, Bob, thanks. I’m trying it to improve my rendition of the last variation of the first movement of Beethoven’s Op. 26 in Ab Major. That’s a bear, with all those sixteenths. It seems to help.
By the way, the Yamaha C-7 is working great. I’m curious what you did with the Steinway M.
Glenn
This comes at a perfect time for one of my students who is studying this movement. We have been discussing all the things you mentioned. She has been doing pretty well, but we’ll try this with the staccato to help reinforce what I’ve told her. I’m going to forward it to her. Thanks.