Gymnopédie No. 1

About this piece

Satie marked it “Lent et douloureux”: slow and sorrowful. In every bar the left hand plays a low bass note and then a soft chord in the middle of the keyboard. The melody floats above with long held notes. The opening chords rock gently between G major 7 and D major 7.

What it practices

• a slow, even tempo
• left-hand leaps: bass note, then chord
• long held melody notes
• pedal

Where the notes come from

Mutopia Project edition (Evin Robertson, from the Dover edition; public domain), compared with this file note by note by our checking script. That edition prints some of the accompaniment chords on the upper staff; here they are on the lower staff, because the left hand plays them. The repeat with first and second endings is as in that edition. Harmony and date from Wikipedia.

How to practice with it

1. Listen first. Press Play and follow the moving line with your eyes. The lit notes and keys show what sounds right now: blue is the right hand, orange the left.
2. Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start.
3. One hand at a time. Choose Right or Left, learn that hand, then put them together.
4. Wait for me. Turn it on and press Start. The lit keys show what to play, and the music waits until you play them, on the screen, on your computer keyboard or on a MIDI keyboard.
5. Loop the hard part. Turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row.

Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. The computer keys A S D F G H J K play C D E F G A B C (press ⌨ Computer keys under the music to see them on the piano).