Hello,

I’ve been teaching myself to play the piano for the past few years. I don’t have any formal education in music so I often struggle not with the actual playing but with reading music sheets. I started playing Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor Op. posth. last week and I’m a little confused with a simple issue with the left hand in the 9th bar. The left hand plays B#, G, F, B. My question is if the second B is a B# or a B. When I play it B it sounds funny but I’m not sure if the second B is sharp because the first lower one was. I know that this is simple but any help is appreciated…

Thanks

From the notes that you have provided to us (I don`t know the song, never played) the basic rules of accidentals are applied here. If the first B is sharped, and the second B in the SAME measure (key factor here) then the second B is sharped as well. If the space between the two Bs is more than a few measures, I`m sure the second B is just a B natural. Many composers try to put a natural sign in front of a successive note to avoid confusion.

SUMMARY: Second B, if in same measure as first B, is sharped. If it isn`t, it`s highly unlikely that it is sharped, no matter how goofy it sounds. That`s what virtuoso music sounds like, boy. Listen to Ravel :D

Here is the sheet music and midi file to Chopin`s posthumous Nocturne in C# Minor:

MIDI: http://n.domaindlx.com/chopinsheetmusic/noccsharp.mid

PDF Sheet Music: http://n.domaindlx.com/chopinsheetmusic/chop_noct_c#_post.pdf

WELL I HAVE ONLY BEEN PLAYING FOR NOT EVEN A YEAR AND I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT IF THE B IS IN THE SAME MEASURE AND ITS A B# THEN YOU PLAY THE B#...THATS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT! I HOPE THAT HELPS!

I play it and know it well. You`re all right, it`s B#.

Good luck with your piano playing, Serge, you`ve done very well so far!!! None of Chopin`s nocturnes are anything to sneeze at, much less if you`re self-taught!!!

Thanks for all of the replies!

After a lot of research I have found the correct definition of an accidental as described in my first message. An accidental, while being carried through the entire bar, only applies to the notes on the same line or space where the accidental first appeared. If the note were in a different octave, the accidental needs to be restated, otherwise it wouldn`t apply to that note.

Of course this definition makes my problem worse as this would mean that the second B would not be sharp. Note that the version that I`m using reads B#, G#, F# and B and not B#, G, F, B like I stated in my initial message.

The reason I was in this mess is that I bought Schirmer’s edition of Chopin’s nocturne thinking that I would have the complete set of nocturnes. But the two last nocturnes, which are not part of an Opus, are not in this edition.

I decided to look for a copy of this nocturne on the Net. I found it at http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/ in the Chopin section. I was thrilled as I’ve always wanted to play it and so far I’ve only been able to play the second nocturne of my Schirmer’s edition, which is no small feat for me as I’m teaching myself to play.

As the version from sheetmusicarchive did not sound right, I decided to go hunting for another version, which I found at everynote.com. This site only had the first page of the nocturne but at least I could see that it was not a B after all but a D#. I found three differences between the two versions.

Last night I went and purchased an official version of this nocturne and of all the editions that I looked at, none used the B. So the official version should be :

B#, G#, F#, and D#

And not

B#, G#, F# and B

like in the downloaded version that I was using.

Can’t trust the internet...

Serge

Ooops!! My mistake!! I somehow thought you meant the fifth note, the third B, and of course it sounded funny to me that you should mention it because it sounds perfectly alright!! My version, which I downloaded from chopingiles.com, also has D#. So it goes B#, G#, F#, D# just like in yours.