Understanding the waltz left hand

Oom, pah, pah

The waltz is a dance in three-four time, born in the German-speaking countries in the eighteenth century and in fashion in Vienna around the 1780s. The most famous of all is still Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube, composed in 1866 and first performed on 15 February 1867.

A waltz usually has one chord per bar, and its accompaniment has a pattern all its own: the root of the chord on the first beat, its other notes on the second and third. That is the waltz's "oom-pah-pah", with a first beat heavier than the other two. The waltz even left the ballroom: Chopin's 18 surviving waltzes were not meant for dancing.

The bass leaps, the chord glides

The lesson rests on four chords: C, G7, C7 and F. On each one, the left hand plays a single bass note on the first beat, then the chord, twice.

• C: C, then E, G, C;
• G7: a lower G, then D, F, B;
• C7: C, then E, G, B-flat;
• F: a low F, then C, F, A.

Watch what moves. The chords stay put: from C to G7, each of their three notes moves down one note (E-D, G-F, C-B). It is the bass that travels. On G7 and F, it lies a tenth below the top of the chord, too wide a gap to keep the hand still: it leaps down to the bass on the first beat, then comes back up for the chord.

One question, three answers

Four phrases of four bars, which the map reads A A' B A':

• A (bars 1 to 4): the melody rises from E to high C, comes back down, and stops on a held G, over G7. That is an imperfect cadence: the phrase hangs in the air, like a question.
• A' (bars 5 to 8): the same opening, but this time G7 leads to C, and the melody settles on E. That is a perfect cadence: the answer.
• B (bars 9 to 12): another path, other chords. The B-flat of C7, in both hands, drops to the A of F; then G7 brings back C, and the melody settles on C.
• A' (bars 13 to 16): the second phrase returns. Only its last note changes: instead of stepping down to E, it leaps up to high C. The map spots it and gives it the same name, A'.

Under C7, the map writes V7/IV. A seventh chord like this one calls for the chord a fourth higher: read that way, C7 is the V7 of F, the IV. And the promise is kept: F arrives in the next bar. Those B-flats, which are not in the C major scale, are the notes outside the key that I point out in bar 9: they are meant to be there.

How to approach it

My plan takes you through it in 7 days. The goal: for your left hand to keep up its oom-pah-pah on its own.

1. Count to three out loud, leaning on the first beat: "ONE-two-three". Then say the chart, one chord per bar: C, C, G7, G7; C, C, G7, C; C7, F, G7, C; then the second phrase.
2. The chords alone, on beats 2 and 3, without the bass. Keep the same fingers for each one: you will feel how little they move from bar to bar.
3. Then add the bass on beat 1. The secret of the leap: play the chord light and short, and as soon as the one on beat 3 is played, head for the next bass note, with your eyes on it. The chord comes back to the same place.
4. The right hand alone: sing the question and its answers. You will meet the two passages I point out there: the B-flat in bar 9, and in bar 16 the leap of a fifth from F up to high C, to prepare with your eyes on the landing note.
5. Hands together, slowly, well below 152 beats per minute. As you near the tempo, think of just one accent per bar, on the bass: the waltz starts to turn.
6. Then change the tune. Keep the left hand, and make up another melody in three-four time over it: the pattern stays the same.