Chopin's Mazurkas

When you think of a Mazurka written for the piano, you probably immediately think Chopin. He was the one that made the Mazurka so famous. The Mazurkas are very interesting in that they do not seem to be very technically demanding. They are difficult in a much more subtle way. The biggest struggle in the Mazurkas is just figuring out the timing. The Mazurkas are based off of a dance, which has three main forms. They are the mazur, oberek, and kujawiak. It is important to think of them as a dance in order to figure out how to place the notes. The music needs to have a strong sense of pulse, yet remain free like a dancer. The Mazurkas are ideal pieces for pianists to practice when working on their sense of rubato and timing because they are so short and simplistic. The timing can be the focus of the piece. And there are so many (Chopin wrote 60!) that one can get plenty of practice in that skill just by studying these Mazurkas.