I'm studying a chopin mazurka for grade 7 piano and in the ABRSM edition of the mazurkas there is a footnote that says 'do not use the pedal but play the bass in a bebung style...'

Bebung used to mean the vibrato effect on the clavichord which you can't do on the piano.

In all other editions they just tend to use the pedal. any ideas?

Yes, you are right about it being used to indicate where a vibrato would be used when playing the clavicherd. It was a finger vibrato added by using finger pressure to the key after the note had been struck and of course it cannot be done on any other keyboard instrument. I would take it to mean that the first note of the each repeated group should be accented and the others played more gently so that they die away from thir first. What does your teacher suggest?

he has no idea about how to play it neither does my previous A-level music teacher whose brilliant at theory. neither have come across it before but have found the vibrato meaning.


the phrasing given at the first bar in the passage indicates what you have outlined but then it stops. the same notes are repeated as a mediant/sub mediant pedal in the tonic minor.

I was thinking of using the pedal as in the other editions but I think the bright purple book would give it away!

Use the pedal!!

the books bright purple so I wouldn't get away with it

Use it anyway!!!

I always understood 'bebung' to be accent first beat, softer second beat, and short (almost staccato) third beat. My piano teacher used to have me saying 'Loud soft short' as I played a Chopin Mazurka or Waltz.
Its widely used for Strauss waltzes also.
Id still be inclined to dab the pedal on the first beat though.

It would be a good idea to listen to a few recordings of this. I had a pupil play the first LH note well accented, but staccato, bringing in the pedal to catch only the RH note, which was played non-staccato, and then up-down quickly for the second beat - and, yes, accenting (or rather highlighting by articulation, as accenting isn't quite the right word) the third. It works well if you use a bit of rubato on the first beat, and accelerate towards that top chord - holding it back ever so slightly. It might help to imagine a lively dance taking place with all the feet making a heavy stamp on the first and third beats of the bar (lighter on the third), in order to capture the character of the piece.

As it stands I will be able to use as much pedalling in this section as necessary, because for the exam I switched to the tchaikovsky. I'm now looking at the grade 8 stuff. Thanks for all your help. I like the idea of going loud, soft, short and using a bit of pedal on the first beat to capture the R.H with rubato . Now I've got a big book of mazurkas to pay for fun!

Yes theyre great to dip into, and plenty of them.
The great Vladimir Horowitz used one or two as encores, notably the C major one towards the end (about no 46 ?). There are two gentle A minor ones (one near the beginning, and one after No46) I like to play,as well as the very well known F major one (also near beginning)