Mastering the Polyrhythm in Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu

Chopin’s “Fantaisie Impromptu” has always been a bucket piece for me. What’s a bucket piece? The same way people have a bucket list, where they list all the things and experiences they’d like to accomplish before they kick the bucket (aka die), a bucket piece is something you just have to learn at whatever the cost. Hopefully not due to some weird kind of social expectancy, but ideally because you just like the piece and it would make your life more complete, fulfilled and enjoyable.

I’ve always liked the elegance and that nostalgic, yearning, melancholy quality in Chopin’s music. The funny thing is that I heard the “Fantaisie” for the first time either by Tony MacAlpine or some other neoclassical shredder. After reading the CD liner notes, I became intrigued and then researched the source. Similar to what happened with one of my other fav pieces, the Adagio by Albinoni (or not?), which I wrote an article about a few years ago: The Albinoni Adagio Mystery.

Anyways, the “Fantaisie” is a virtuosic piece. Arpeggios, runs and speed – all the necessary ingredients of a virtuoso showcase. But there are also extremely beautiful lyrical and flowing passages.

Chopin is such a master. Due to his deep understanding of the piano and the idiomatic writing many of the passages actually are not as difficult as they initially seem. Don’t get me wrong, they are still hard to play, especially when you bring them up to speed and try to maintain the required lightness and elegance.

The big hurdle however is the polyrhythm between the left and right hand. Triplets in the left hand accompaniment while the right hand plays 16th notes. It doesn’t look that difficult on paper, but when you haven’t played pieces using that polyrhythm before it’s a frustrating initial experience.

Just Hack It?

While researching lots of performance and tutorial videos to get a better understanding, I couldn’t help but notice lots of sloppy performances that emphasized speed over accuracy and were full of incorrect rhythms. All you need is a good reference by a true master pianist and that sloppiness sticks out and you can really hear/feel the difference quite easily.

I didn’t want to fall into the trap of “programming” my mind and fingers in wrong patterns and wanted to tackle the polyrhythm hurdle in a more methodical, step-by-step fashion. Especially since it’s a bucket piece, I was definitely willing to go the extra mile to ensure that I’d learn the piece correctly. In the end, what’s the point of taking the effort to learn a piece incorrectly?

Step-by-Step Approach

Definition of Polyrhythm

First, let’s define “polyrhythm” so we are on the same page. A polyrhythm is the simultaneous/parallel application of different rhythms and/or unrelated subdivisions. 8th notes vs. triplets, triplets vs. 16ths etc. There could be various tuplet combinations, but let’s focus on the 16ths-over-triplets rhythm as needed for the “Fantaisie”.

The right hand plays a stream of 16th notes, the left hand accompaniment consists of a steady flow of triplets. Easy peasy, right? No – at least not for me. When you have 16th notes over 8th notes the notes nicely land together. You can synchronize the right hand 16ths easily with the left hand 8th notes. The first 16th note of each beat falls together with the first 8th note and then you have the third 16th note nicely landing together with the second 8th note of the beat. Those synchronization points definitely do help to keep the hands together.

You don’t get that obvious synchronisation when playing 4 against 3. There’s more of a rhythmic tension, which is the effect the composer goes for. So, how to make sure we are applying/playing the correct polyrhythm? There are various approaches possible. Here are all that I have tried.

Mathematical Approach

I started with the mathematical approach. It appealed to the logical/analytical part of my mind. And surely, once you understand something intellectually, it will be easy to apply the theory to practice, right?

Let’s start with the good news. It is fairly easy to understand what’s happening. Triplets are dividing the beat into three equal parts, while 16th notes means that you divide a beat into four equal parts. Therefore, the individual subdivisions land on different places within the beat. In order to control and get a sense of measurement, we have to adjust the underlying grid so we can keep track of the notes.

For that, we need to take the common multiple of 3 and 4 which is 12. Imagine a beat subdivided into twelve parts and put the notes in their correct place:

• the right-hand 16ths fall on 1 – 4 – 7 – 10
• the left-hand triplets fall on 1 – 5 – 9

Hopefully, this makes sense. Now we can place those notes with confidence. We know exactly where the notes are supposed to fall during the beat. Practically, it’s a nightmare though.

It’s almost impossible to count and control whether the hands do perform at the right time. You have to slow down the tempo a lot and therefore lose any sense of beat and feel when you have to count out loud to 12 (for each beat) at such a slow tempo. Additionally, “seven” and “eleven” throw a curve-ball as two-syllable words. All in all, it feels like a math exercise and there’s almost no chance of increasing the tempo while maintaining the control via the counting.

Oh no, are we doomed? Fear not! There are other approaches.

Use of a Mnemonic Phrase

In one of the countless YouTube tutorials I watched I came across the idea of using a simple phrase as a rhythmic mantra of sorts.

“Pass the stinkin’ butter.”

Say that phrase and clap for every syllable! Congratulations, you’ve just played the 4-against-3 polyrhythm.

Yes, it’s a silly phrase. It’s great for memorization though. Easy to remember and surprisingly effective for slow to low-medium speeds. Consider the giggle-inducing silliness effect as a bonus. There are downsides though. It’s still difficult to go beyond a certain tempo. So you are limited by the tempo at which you can recite the phrase without losing the intended rhythm.

Polyrhythm Metronome via an App

In my updated Apps for Musicians/Creatives article, I’ve highlighted the Complete Rhythm Trainer app. Not only is this an awesome rhythmic training course, it also includes a polyrhythm metronome, which is perfect for working on pieces like the “Fantaisie”.

Simply choose two distinctly different drum sounds and a suitable tempo and you get the 4-against-3 pattern played by the metronome.

This helps you to memorize the rhythmic pattern and makes it much easier to then apply the polyrhythm to the piece. Once you start increasing the tempo, a polyrhythmic metronome is worth its megabytes in gold. Instead of splitting your attention on both counting and playing, you outsource the counting to the metronome. The increased focus on playing helps you break that speed barrier more easily and you still have the controlling factor in form of the metronome.

Course by Graham Fitch

I also discovered a YouTube video by Graham Fitch, who talked about how to tackle the “Fantaisie” polyrhythm parts.

I love the reductionist approach of focusing the left hand on the synchronization points where both hands fall together. This reduced version actually sounds surprisingly complete already and is quite pleasant to play. The better you feel those anchoring synchro points, the easier it is to feel (and correct) when you fall off adding the in-between notes.

And isn’t that bicycle analogy (starting at 4:21) great?

The video is part of a course that you can buy for 11.98€. If you are interested in the piece, I can definitely recommend it. It’s a good price for a course by a highly qualified teacher who also happens to be a great communicator. I don’t get paid for my recommendation. I bought the course myself and the only downside I can think of: not the whole piece is demonstrated and dissected. But what’s covered is insightful and extremely helpful.

Practice Recipe for the “Fantaisie Impromptu”

Here’s my practice “recipe”, the approach I am using to learn this piece. Of course, the traditional, standard approaches have their place. I definitely started with practicing hands separately.

I use “no-rhythm practice”. This means I ditch rhythms initially and focus on the notes exclusively. I identify and recite everything relevant to the note like name and finger used for playing out loud before actually playing the note. This helps me ingrain the process because I have to think first and the reciting, hearing and doing strengthens the connection for me.

Then I do the opposite: “no-pitch practice”, which means I ditch the pitches and only count and play the rhythms while staying exclusively on the same pitch.

I play phrases and parts using the Graham-Fitch approach (demonstrated in the embedded video above), where I focus on the synchronization points (no polyrhythm yet).

I practice the actual polyrhythm passages and either use the silly catch phrase or the polyrhythm metronome. With the goal to internalize the sound/feel of the 4-against-3 polyrhythm pattern.

I continuously repeat segments playing both hands together, so that finger memory can kick in due to the focused repetitions.

I alternate slow, consistent practice with speed bursts to challenge myself (bicycle analogy) which helps to tackle the especially difficult parts. There’s always that safety net of the more comfortable speed catching me in case I fall.

With adaptations you can use that recipe not only for the “Fantaisie”, but also for other pieces that use polyrhythms.

I still have quite a long way to go before I feel like I am competently playing the piece and mastery will take even longer, but I definitely feel closer to my goal with a clear roadmap of what to do. I hope this breakdown helps you tackle challenging pieces on your own bucket list.