Sight-Reading Satie

Poulenc once said: "When he (Satie) died, the condition in which they found his (Satie's) piano showed that he hardly ever made use of it". Poulenc always wondered how Satie wrote perfect pianistic music without the help of the keyboard. I now wonder the same thing. I've always liked teaching and playing his pieces because they fit our hands perfectly well and it is just plain fun. Another reason to sight-reading his pieces is the amount of patterns (chunks) you will find. His compositions are covered with melodic sequences, scales and arpeggios, broken intervals and chords, and brilliant chains of chord progressions. The rhythms are a bit static but suitable for younger students. If you are tired of sight-reading classic sonatas searching for "chunks", try Satie. You can also be entertained by his writings.

Two years ago, I performed Sports et Divertissements (1914) for my students. Needless to say, this set of 20 pieces really touch my students imagination.
the musicologist Rollo Myers* said: "These little masterpieces of wit and ironic observation reveal his genius perhaps more convincingly then any of his other works, with the exception of Socrate".
The edition I use is Dover Publications, Inc.,NY and it has the original drawings by Charles Martin, a popular illustrator. Perhaps influenced by the drawings, I like to describe these little pieces as "thumbnails" (a term my art teacher loved using for small sketches). The whole set is graded level 10. However, individual pieces can vary in levels.
The text Satie wrote to accompany each piece, according to Myers, is inseparable form the music. However, Satie has issued the following WARNING: "I forbid the text to be read out loud during the performance of the music. Failure to conform with these instructions will cause the transgressor to incur my just indignation".**
You can find the whole history and description about Sports et Divetissement in Myers book.*
They are ideal for sight-reading because they are very short and usually each of them explores one or two patterns.


The teenager's favorite! Sonatine Bureaucratique (1917)-level 8.
This sonatina in one movement is a parody of Clementi's Sonatina Op.36, #1. Great sight-reading material since everybody HAS once learned Clementi's Sonatina. He wrote it in neo-classic style and all classic patterns are present in a different key (A Major). Half way through the piece, Satie writes: " A nearby piano plays Clementi" :)
This is a fun work not musically interesting.


CHORD PROGRESSIONS


Sonneries de la Rose + Croix (1892-level8) and Le Fils des Etoiles (1891-level 7-8) are good examples of pieces where Satie writes great chord progressions to practice sight-reading. The length of these medieval sounding progressions, the fact that the chords are static and all written in quarter note value and the 'lack of bar lines' forces one to keep the eyes on the page or else, one is lost. Satie alternates these chord progressions with sections where he explores single rhythmic ideas. There are no phrase markings providing a good opportunity to explore this subject with students.

Satie often writes sets of three pieces almost as if he were a sculpture who wishes one to look at his work from three dimension (i.g., 3 Sarabands, 3 Gymnopedies, 3 Gnossiennes, 3 Morceaux en Forme de Poire-4 hands, 3 Embryons Desseches, 3 Preludes Flasques).

Last year, I performed Embryons Desseches (1913-level 10) on Halloween for a group of teachers and for my students. Teachers and students were amused by the parody of Chopin's Funeral March and by the mocking chords who tease the audience at the end of the first and third movements clearly making fun of the Romantic composers.
These pieces written exploring many familiar patterns. They are good sight-reading material. Also, audiences love it.
If you don't have the score, Rollo Myers has a very detailed description of each piece.

This is getting too long. I will write more about Satie's works later on. I will include some elementary sight-reading repertoire too.

* I wrote the name of Myers' book in the previous posting.
** I have been to a concert where the pianist had her husband reading the text before each piece. Satie still hates them :o