Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words

Op. 30, Nr. 5 in D Major

This piece, marked Andante grazioso, has several pianistic principles that students tend to struggle with. Mendelssohn writes Il Basso sempre piano e leggierissimo, meaning the bass is always soft and delicate. The melodic line is clearly on the right hand octaves. The left hand consists of 32nd-note accompaniment that conjures images of flowing streams or rippling water. It is subtle and transparent as opposed to the melodic line, which is clear-cut and forward. Because of this delicate nature of the left hand accompaniment, it must be treated carefully so it is not played out too much (which destroys the serenity of it), neither is it underplayed (which becomes unarticulated).

This accompaniment on the left hand should be soft and delicate without loosing the clarity of the notes. This can be practiced through different articulations of the passage: staccatos, dotted rhythms, detachment of every note using high fingers. This will help the students learn the intervals and know where the leaps are, which further helps with accuracty. Articulation can also be achieved through rotations of wrist and forearm, which give support to the fingers. Elbow can act as a pivot point, directs and leads the fingers through running passages. In measure 5, where the left hand plays C#, E, A#, and C#, it is helpful to practice in groups of two, three, and four in order to play these evenly. For example, C# to E, E to A#, A# to C#, then backwards.

Another issue with this piece is connecting the right hand octaves. There are two ways of playing legato octaves. The most effective way for this piece, in my opinion, is finger substitution. If the tempo allows (meaning that it is not too fast), this method works best for me. Take the beginning of this piece, for example, I would play the F# with a 4 (like it suggests in the music), then 1-5 for the first octave, substitute 5 with a 4 before playing the next octave with 1-5 again. In desceding passages, same principle applies, but now 1-4 first, then substitue with 5, then 1-5 for the next octave. This way, the top notes are connected, which connects the octaves. The other way is playing all octaves with 1-5, but to "slide" from one octave to the next by staying as close to the keys as possible using the elbow and the forearm to lead from one position to the next. I find that this works best in fast passages, where there is no time for finger substitution.

The last principle is voicing chords. There are several ways to practice bringing out the top melodic lines without loosing the inner voices. One is to practice without the thumbs. This is also a good way to practice leaps from one chord to the next. Another way is to practice only the top notes with the fingers given for the chords (most of the time, it would be all 5s, or sometimes alternating 4s and 5s), using more support from the elbow to give these notes richer and fuller tone. Add the top inner voice, then play all three voices, before adding the thumb back in. Playing each inner voice by itself (using the fingerings given) with different articulations will further train the student's ears to listen to many layers at once.