Piano Q&A: Teaching Cross Rhythms

By Dr. Nancy Allred

Featuring practice steps for the Serenade (Ständchen) by Franz Schubert

(3 against 2)

This segment of teaching cross rhythms will focus on the beautiful Serenade (Ständchen) by Franz Schubert. It is a lovely example of 3 against 2, with triplets in the RH and duplet 8ths in the LH. The Serenade (Ständchen) D 889, was originally composed as a lied (art song) for solo voice and piano. It was composed in July 1826 in the village of Währing. There are many arrangements or transcriptions of Schubert's Serenade. This version is a simple piano solo, which combines the piano accompaniment of the lied with the vocal part.

This is a particularly challenging example, as there are many “3 against 2” beats in the entire piece. I will focus on measures 5-8, which has the main melody after a 4 measure introduction. The main difficulty for students is feeling the 3 against 2 and then keeping the pulsating notes after that “3 against 2” beat.

The rhythm words we often use for cross rhythms can be the gateway into teaching a student to “hear” and “feel” the “3 against 2.” Very often, these rhythm words will be exactly what the student needs, and then by going to the musical example, this is all they need, and they will experience success. However, not all students are successful with this method.

The cross rhythm steps outlined below give more detail into how the rhythm of “3 against 2” fits together in this beautiful piece by Schubert. These steps are actually a very useful rhythm lesson! And students will get a feel for different note values and for the relationships between these note values.

These steps help students understand the relationship of where they are coming from, and especially where they are going after the “3 against 2”. Some students will zip through these steps and then they’ve got it in a week or two. Others need a lot more time. Also, I don’t do all of the steps every week with each student. I will see what works the best, and what is helping them hear and feel this cross rhythm. So, if a student connects with one of the steps below, I will focus on that one. If they like the rhythm words, “pass the butter now”, we will definitely use that. If they like 1 2 3 1 2 3 better, we will use that, and so on. Also, I will use the metronome at an easy tempo at first, and then will move up the metronome until it is fast and then the student can connect it to the music at the tempo they are practicing.

The goal is that the student can internalize these wonderful cross rhythms, enjoy playing them, and then make beautiful music!

Practice Steps – Serenade – by Franz Schubert (see the Outline, link is below)

1. Listening

- Practice hands alone (HA) over and over.

- Isolate one beat of the cross rhythm, and practice over and over.

- Isolate the measure of the cross rhythm of 3 ag 2, and practice over and over.

- Practice hands together (HT) over and over.

- Remember to make it fit.

- Keep the triplets even.

- Keep the duplets even.

- Use a lot of repetition.

2. Mathematical/theoretical