When it comes time to put the hands together, do it without the metronome at first. Here, the best approach is simply to practice hands separately, setting a metronome to the common note value (a dotted half note in this case) to ensure that you’re playing both hands at the same tempo. This is not the case with the above example, however. Then practice the notes between individual “landmarks.” Draw a line connecting them in the score. There are a couple useful approaches to practicing complex polyrhythms: First, find out where the right hand coincides with the left and use those notes as landmarks. 3 against 4.Īnother very practical exercise for 3 against 4 in both hands is the first of the Brahms 51 Exercises.Īs for unusual tuplets such as those frequently found in Chopin’s music, these are almost always vocal embellishments and are generally not meant to be played with absolute mechanical precision.

It’s very common for one hand to be better at playing 4 against 3 vs. Again, practice with the metronome and eventually reverse hands, playing 4 in the right against 3 in the left. This will help you to embody precise rhythmic control. Notice that each hand changes direction on the beat. It’s best to practice it – again with a metronome – using an exercise such as this one: The next common polyrhythm is 3 against 4. Since our object is absolute precision in this case, it’s best to practice with a metronome.Īfter you’ve mastered duplets in the right hand against triplets in the left, switch. Notice that the second eighth note in the duplet (the right hand in the below example) falls exactly between the last two notes of the triplet? Pronounce “George Washington” as you tap, and the syllables will coincide with your taps:Īn alternative is “old rattletrap,” and I’m sure there are others you can invent. There’s a little trick to practicing 2 against 3. This should first be practiced by tapping exercises in which one hand taps three beats and the other two. – Christopher Cheng (Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia)Īlbert’s reply: First it’s important to master the most basic of polyrhythms, 2 against 3. Thank you for the wonderful insights on this website! My approach is lots of practice hands separately with the metronome but the odd ones seem impossible to be subdivided. Question: What is your advice for playing polyrhythms? For example, simple polyrhythms like triplets against duplets or quadruplets and odd ones (Chopin’s favorite) like 4 notes against 35 or 13 notes.

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