Piano Forum

I decided my next piece I'd learn would be First Sorrow Opus No 16 by Schumann, but there are some elements I'm not sure of.

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/707/90683299.jpg/

These are repeat marks. The bracket with the 1 under it means you play that for the first time, then when you repeat the section, you skip the [1] and play [2]. The smaller numbers under the bracket are fingering suggestions left by either Schumann or the editor.

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/88512051.jpg/

Yes, this is called voicing. This is a technique used to show the independence of each voice. There are more reasons as to why some music is written this way, but don't worry about that. It's not written as a single chord (at least with this example) because the notes have different durations. Take the last measure in the image as an example. The alto (the lowest of the two voices in the treble clef) is a half note while the soprano (top notes) are eighth notes. It would be incorrect to stem these together, so Schumann correctly writes them as separate voices.

Best wishes,