i'm trying to get back into the piano after quitting it after high school. i'd like to learn chopins nocturne no. 1 and don't know how to count the right hand where there's 11 notes in half of one bar and then 22 in the following bar. what is the correct way of doing this? thanks (this is a great website btw)

Hello,

I don't think I can explain myself very well, but I'll try. Here's what I do in situations like this:

I draw vertical lines connecting the RH to the LH at points where the two notes come close to hitting at the same time. This give me an idea of how many RH notes I have to get through for each LH note. Then I practice it very, very slowly with a metronome so I can hear - in this case the six beats per measure until it starts to click and both hands are pretty much playing by muscle memory. Then of course you gradually increase the metronome settings.

thank you pianolady...i had an idea that it was something like that, just couldn't remember if there was an official correct way of doing it. counting was never a strength of mine. thanks again!