10. A Little Exploration

The crucial point of this piece is how to express the changing psychological depiction through precise rhythm and chords. The psychological depiction in this piece aims to convey the joy of "exploration" and "adventure" itself, glimpsing an unknown world, encompassing feelings such as delight, anticipation, fear, and surprise.

Furthermore, this piece is to be played plainly, without any rubato typical of the Romantic period. Please refer to the tempo markings. Only "riten..." is written at the very end. While the very end should conclude slightly slower, the rest of the piece should be played quite close to a metronomic tempo. The rhythmic challenge lies in measures 17-19. Teachers, please use every means possible to guide students through the mechanism of the rhythm until they have completely and accurately grasped it. It is acceptable even if that alone takes up the entire lesson. This is extremely important.

As a tip, have the student play at a very slow tempo. To help them recognize that a dotted eighth note is equivalent to three sixteenth notes, arrange the passage. For example, if you extract only the melody line from measure 17, it becomes A CE CE. Intentionally convert all of these into sixteenth notes. That is: have them play AAACEEECEEEE. Of course, this involves repeating chords, so it's impossible at a fast tempo. Significantly slow down the tempo and first have them play this AAACEEECEEEE. Once the student becomes accustomed, instruct them to tie all the first AAAs together. Next, tie all the EEES, and then all the next EEES. At this point, never increase the tempo. Maintain a slow tempo until they can play it perfectly accurately, allowing the student to grasp the mechanism.

Another reason why measures 17-19 are difficult is the alternation between the left and right hands. Initially, practicing without any staccato is one method. Once accustomed and able to play in tempo, then play the sixteenth notes as if they were "ornamental notes preceding the next dotted eighth note." In other words, very little force should be applied to the sixteenth notes; instead, the force should be directed towards the dotted eighth notes and quarter notes written on the main beats.

Consider the phrases in four-measure units. Aim towards a goal within each four-measure unit. Consider which measure within the four-measure unit has the highest tension. Of course, this is not always the same; there are also four-measure units, such as measures 9-12, where the first measure has the greatest volume.