Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Erick Satie, "Je Te Veux" Grade Level and Advice

After 4-5 years of not playing the piano, I finally bought a digital piano and am beginning to learn Erik Satie's "Je Te Veux." I like the character of the piece, but am struggling a little with it or at least not progressing as quickly as I would like. I've been working on it for 6 days and can play the first page, but am struggling with finger numbering and patterns.

When I stopped playing the piano I was playing at a Grade 3 level but at the same time I was learning Schumann's Aufschung and not a simplified version either. I don't think I'll be able to pick that piece up for a long time.

What Grade level would "Je Te Veux" be considered?

Also, if you have any suggestions for how to practice, learn and play this piece, please advice. If you're familiar with this piece-please tell me all that you know!

I can't afford lessons right now, so I'm hoping the more experienced players can help me here.

I'm not familiar with this piece and can't answer your question, but I hate to see your post sink into oblivion without any replies. Unfortunately, it's always luck of the draw whether someone with the specific knowledge sought might be reading the message boards at any given time and has time to write a constructive response.

So how long have you had your digital and been playing again? Do you have some specific plans for rebuilding keyboard fluency?

Also, you mentioned in another thread that you have two favorite Chopin pieces that you were uncertain if you might be able to attempt. I wondered what they are, and what you feel your problems to be with technique and theory.

Of course, I'm curious because I'm a Chopin lover! I know nothing about grades and grading systems, but do now that Schumann's Aufschwung is a challenging piece. Perhaps your Chopin goals are reachable with determination, study and practice, after all.

Steven

I am familiar with it and have been visiting it for from time to time. My version has no fingering at all, so I can't help you there. I have already recorded Gnossienne No. 1 and am almost finished with Gymnopedie No. 1. I used the term "visiting", because I'm working on so many other pieces at once. I get tired playing the same thing over and over.
Mike

I know this is an old thread, but this is one of my favorite pieces. There are also many versions of it which are different difficulties. I have seen simplified versions (octaves replaced by single notes etc.) and versions that are more of an accompaniment for a singer. Also it seems that Satie wrote this initially as a song with two verses and a chorus, but much later played it as a solo piece with two more lovely themes in the middle. I could not find a version of the score that was both not simplified and also including the beautiful middle section, so I put together my own version of the score using MuseScore.

Most of the piece is really dreamy except for the first theme in the middle section which is a little more grand giving a nice contrast.

The piece was initially a song indeed. If you read the text it is a love song on a waltz rythm, quite sensual.

https://youtu.be/p2CzbUABKhk

Here is the link to the composer version for solo piano if you dont have it.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Je_te_veux_(Satie%2C_Erik)

B
These versions of the score are what I started with until I heard a rendition that included the extra middle section that Satie added later and I had to have it. If you are interested in the score, you can find my version here:
https://musescore.com/user/28684966/scores/6254386

Well maybe I did not look well, but I do not see any new material vs the version on imslp. I see you added some chords and reinforced the harmony and reordered and shortened the composer version, but that is about it.

The original version is 6 pages, but if one looks carefully, pages 3-4 are the same as pages 5-6. Essentially there are two themes: Theme A - pages 1-2 and Theme B - pages 3-4 and 5-6, and they are repeated A-B-A-B-A. The last repeat has a different ending.

My version has all this music on pages 1,2 and 5. It is just more dense as I omit the extra stave for the voice and since I don't have the words, pages 1-2 of the original (except for the different ending) fit on one page. Similarly pages 3-4 of the original fit on my page 2. On pages 3 and most of page 4 is the new material - I did not add any chords and did not reinforce any harmony as I am no composer. This new material has two themes, the first is the repeat at the start of my page 3 and the rest is the other theme. If we call these C and D, then it repeats as follows: A-B-A-C-D-A. I repeat the first theme on the last page for the different ending. Themes A and B are directly from the versions on, with page 3 and most of page 4 from the other version that I found on the web. The other version that I worked from had a simplified version of themes A and B which is the only reason I combined them.

I dont know what grade it is, but I find the version on imslp to be mostly sight readable.

Hi Alan, I am not trying to be difficult here, but all the music you have on your page 3 and 4 are also present on the Imslp version end of page 3 and page 4. The same keys and same number of bars. When I talk about reinforced harmony is simply the fact that you have doubled many notes like in bar 7, last quarter you doubled the E vs the composer version and this is done quite systematically in many bars of the piece. Nothing wrong with it but it is different from the composer version. So I would say your version is more of an "arrangement" rather than a new material version per se.

Like Sidokar, I may not have examined the two piano solo versions closely enough to see where new material has been added. The fact that Satie's piano solo version is nearly 100 measures longer than Alan B's does account for the fact that the latter has used a repeat sign for the first section where Satie has written it out. Apart from some doubling in the RH at the outset, I don't see any new material that was not in Satie's transcription.

Regards,

At last we are on the same page now. I only ever saw the first two scores on IMSLP which are for the song and not the piano solo version. If only I had found that earlier before I went to all that trouble. Still it did enable me to know the score so much better so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I love this piece; I've accompanied the original voice/piano version and used the solo transcription a few times in sets for weddings and other events. It's very well-written, fun to play and to listen to, and always effective. And like Sidokar said, the text is very sensual.

Yes, i love it too. Both the text and the music are wonderful. It has this early 20th century flavor. There are a lot of melodies by french composers which should be played more often.