Sparkling Splashes and Smooth Water - Grade 2 Piano

Teaching Notes

The time signature of this piece is somewhat unusual. Instead of 4/4 time which would mathematically fit the notes in each bar, it is written as 8/8. The reason for this is that the beats are not crotchets, but rather quavers with groupings of 3+3+2. This is actually a very common pulse in modern popular music. Maybe one of the more well known examples would be "Clocks" by Coldplay

The accents on the 1st, 4th and 7th quavers in the "Sparkling Splashes" sections help to bring out this 3/3/2 rhythm. However, they should not be too heavy, just enough to provide the pulse.

In contrast, there are no accents in the "Smooth Water" sections. As the title suggests, these two aspects of the piece are supposed to be contrasting, not only in the use, or lack of accents, but also in different dynamic levels and the use or non-use of pedal.

In bars 7 and 15, there is an instruction to slow down (poco rit). Be sure that this process of deceleration continues right up to the last crotchet of the following bar in each case and that the normal tempo is not resumed until it actually says "a tempo".

Finally and speaking of these final crotchets before the "a tempo" markings in bars 8 and 16, notice the rest in the LH under each. It will be a common mistake of less attentive students to let the LH chord at the beginning of the bar linger on too long.