A question about Beethoven's German dances WoO 13 no 9

[maestro1987]

Hi!

I noticed that according to the sheet I should play the same note at the same time. How it is possible? It is in the 5th bar of the second part (Trio).

[landru]

The B is first played in the left, then the right, and then the left again. I've run into this with some Bach pieces as well. These are dances so they do not have to be super legato - and since LvB puts some accents in the right hand in the measure before for a similar phrase in measure 5, we can make a case that you can try to quickly play the three B's in a row by alternating your left thumb - right thumb - left thumb without sounding too detached. I think LvB expects you to take the right thumb off for the quarter note so that you can play the 16th in the left.

The key is to try to get the thumbs off the key quickly enough so the next thumb can strike. Since every hand is different it's hard to say where on the keys where your thumbs should be. Some people can share the key, while others may have move them away.

If I was doing this and had troubles I would isolate this section and play exaggerated dotted rhythms. First play the downbeat notes much longer than the upbeat notes and then once you've got that down, play the upbeat notes much longer than the downbeats. You'll be amazed at how problems disappear with that!

[maestro1987]

Thank you!