Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques)
Erik Satie (1866–1925) · sheet music
- Time 4/4
- Levels 2
- Passages 3
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Erik Satie, French modern (1866–1925). The reading release has 3 passages from this piece at level 2; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for the right hand alone.
The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 2.
Your practice path
Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques).
- Right hand alone · bars 1–8 level 2
How to play Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques)
- Tempo:Satie marks it Lent, slow; give each quarter-note beat time to ring, but keep the pulse steady like a rocking cradle.
- Left hand:In the opening the left hand plays the rocking quarter notes in the treble clef; keep them even and very soft, as a gentle background.
- Right hand:The right hand's pairs of notes should sound exactly together; let the hand drop gently onto each pair rather than striking it.
- Hands together:Both hands sit close together in the treble clef, so keep the thumbs from bumping and decide which hand plays on top before you start.
- Dynamics:The piece begins pianissimo; stay in the soft range throughout and use only small swells at phrase peaks.
- Rhythm:At Retenir beaucoup slow down a lot, then at Reprendre le mouvement return cleanly to the original tempo.
- Practice:Read the story aloud first, then play each phrase while thinking of its words, so the slowing and the return feel natural.
- Reading:Both staves use the treble clef in this piece, so check the clef before reading the lower staff; the notes stay within one white-key hand position.
Common mistakes
- Reading the lower staff in bass clef by habit. Fix: Circle the treble clef on the lower staff and say the first few left-hand note names aloud.
- Playing too fast and losing the rocking feeling. Fix: Count four slow beats per bar and let each note be heard fully.
- Forgetting to return to tempo after Retenir beaucoup. Fix: Practice the slowdown and the Reprendre le mouvement restart as a pair until the return is clean.
- Playing too loudly for a pianissimo lullaby. Fix: Aim for the quietest tone you can control, keeping the fingers close to the keys.
Structure: ternary (A–B–A')
A rocking opening phrase is answered by a middle section where the roles change and the story's dialogue begins. The music holds back sharply at Retenir beaucoup, then Reprendre le mouvement brings back the opening rocking music for the close.
- A · Rocking opening (C major (white keys))
- The left hand rocks in even quarter notes, written in the treble clef, under soft half-note pairs in the right hand. Pianissimo throughout.
- B · Pierrot's question (C major (white keys))
- The right hand takes a simple quarter-note tune while the left hand holds pairs of notes; the phrase slows sharply at Retenir beaucoup.
- A' · Return and sleep (C major (white keys))
- At Reprendre le mouvement the rocking pattern returns, and the piece settles quietly as Pierrot falls asleep.
About Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques)
The Berceuse is the middle piece of Erik Satie's Enfantillages pittoresques, a set of three children's pieces dated October 22, 1913 and dedicated to Madame Léon Verveuil. It is one of three small collections, known together as the Enfantines, that Demets published in Paris in 1914.
Wikipedia describes the Enfantines as genuine children's pieces for small hands, each set built on a different five-finger scale using only the white keys. In the Berceuse, marked Lent and pianissimo, both hands stay in the treble clef: one rocks in steady quarter notes while the other moves in soft pairs of notes.
Satie printed a little story along the music. After a well-behaved day, Pierrot's mother tucks him in, he asks whether his grandparents will know how good he was, and she replies that they will read about it in the newspaper; he falls asleep full of pride.
- Satie wrote three sets of Enfantines in October 1913: Menus propos enfantins, Enfantillages pittoresques, and Peccadilles importunes.
- According to pianist Olof Höjer, quoted on Wikipedia, the three Enfantines sets grow gradually more advanced.
- The other pieces in Enfantillages pittoresques are a Little Prelude to the Day and a March of the Grand Staircase.
- Satie was born in Honfleur, Normandy, in 1866 and died in 1925.
Why the first passage is level 2
That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because it leaps a minor third.
Both hands read in the treble clef and stay in one white-key position, so read the rocking pattern once and then watch for where the tune changes direction.
Questions about Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques)
- How hard is Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques) to play?
- Its passages grade from level 2 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 2.
- Is there an easy part of Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques) for beginners?
- Yes. Start with bars 1–4 for the right hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because it leaps a minor third.
- What key and time signature is Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques) in?
- The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
- Who composed Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques)?
- Erik Satie, French modern (1866–1925). The Berceuse is the middle piece of Erik Satie's Enfantillages pittoresques, a set of three children's pieces dated October 22, 1913 and dedicated to Madame Léon Verveuil.
- Can I practice Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques) online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 3 graded passages from Berceuse (Enfantillages pittoresques) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What is the story behind Satie's Berceuse?
- Pierrot's mother tucks him in after a good day; he asks if his grandparents will know, and she says they will read it in the newspaper.
- Is Satie's Berceuse for beginners?
- Yes. The Enfantines were written as genuine children's pieces for small hands, using white-key five-finger positions.
- Is the Berceuse in the public domain?
- Satie died in 1925, so the piece is in the public domain in most countries, and the 1914 Demets edition is freely available on IMSLP.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades 3 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
More pieces to sight-read
Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.