How to play Moonlight and Pathetique Sonatas

Hi, I'm Robert Estrin here at virtualsheetmusic.com with a technique video, How to play the Beethoven's "Moonlight" and "Pathetique" sonatas. Now, you may wonder how can I have one video that's gonna cover two completely different sonatas. Well, the truth is, I'm not gonna cover everything in these sonatas. That would be a very, very long video. Instead, I'm going to show you some intrinsic techniques, that you can not only use for part of these two sonatas, but you can use it with a great variety of music.

So, what do these two pieces have in common? Well, if you take the beginning of the "Moonlight Sonata" and the second movement of the Beethoven "Pathetique Sonata", you have a great challenge. Which is, not just being able to play some parts louder with one hand and the other hand, but playing parts that play with one hand, two different parts. Where you want one part to be louder than the other, with one hand. This is extraordinarily challenging on the piano. Of course, in the "Moonlight Sonata..[music] Notice how the top line was brought out. Same thing with the second movement of the "Pathetique Sonata".

[music] Because you would not want them to sound like this. [music] That sounds terrible, doesn't it? Because you don't hear the melody. I'm playing them equally, but they don't sound equal because the melody dies away. This is the great challenge with playing the piano. When you have a slow melody, the melody notes will die away. So, you actually have to accentuate the melody even more, just for them to be equal. Same thing, the second movement. If I play them equal, they don't sound equal. The fast notes that are under the melody, sound louder than the melody. Because the melody dies away. [music]

So, how is it I'm able to play the melody louder than the accompaniment? How can you practice a thing like that? Well, I've got a technique for you. Because it's difficult to quantify volume with different fingers, we use something else. We use articulation. So, you practice it playing the accompaniment notes staccato from the fingers and the melody notes legato. No pedal and you end up with this. [music] Now, does that mean you play it staccato? No, but you train your hands to feel the difference between melody notes and accompaniment notes. Same thing with the second movement of the "Pathetique". [music]

So then, when you play it as written, you don't have to play those bottom notes staccato. You just play them lighter, add the pedal and voila. This is what you have. [music] So, if you've ever wondered how is it possible to get two different levels of dynamics in one hand, you have the secret now. Try it with all your music. Any place you have a challenge of balancing different voices. Play the accompaniment lines staccato and the melody lines legato and watch what it does for your playing. Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at virtualsheetmusic.com. See you next time.

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