‘Chopsticks’ (also known as the ‘Celebrated Chop Waltz’) is a well-known simple piece of music for the piano written by Euphemia Allen in 1877 using the pseudonym Arthur de Lulli. It can theoretically be played with the two hands in a chopping position, with the little fingers striking the keys. There are also three-handed variations available, as composed by Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatoly Lyadov in 1879. Their acquaintance Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky declined their invitation for him to do likewise, regarding it as a pointless waste of his time.
To play the piece, locate middle C on a piano, then find the F and G above middle C. Play these two notes together six times. The rhythm is a staccato waltz rhythm, so the six repetitions of the note make up two bars.
Next, move your left hand one note down to the E note and play another six notes. These six notes repeat the same rhythm as the first six notes of the piece. Again, it is a consistent waltz beat lasting across two bars.
For the following six notes, which once again repeat the staccato waltz rhythm from the first four bars, move both hands. The right hand goes up two notes to the B above middle C, while the left hand goes down one note to the D above middle C.
The next two bars are more complicated. The first bar consists of a repetition of the staccato waltz rhythm for three notes on middle C (with the left hand) and the C above middle C (with the right hand). Then for the last three notes of the double bar section of the piece (the eighth bar in total) there is a descending phrase in the right hand accompanied by an ascending phrase in the left hand. This keeps up the same rhythm as the first twenty-one notes of the piece. First you play middle C and the C above middle C (as on the previous three notes), then you play D in the left hand and B in the right hand, then you play E in the left hand and A in the right hand.
At this stage you play a reprise of the first 21 notes. Start on the F and G above middle C. Play these two notes together six times in the same staccato waltz rhythm that we have been using throughout the piece so far.
Next, move your left hand one note down to the E note and play another six notes in the same staccato waltz rhythm. Then move your hands to the B above middle C and the D above middle C. Then once again play three notes on middle C (with the left hand) and the C above middle C (with the right hand). You might like to slow the rhythm down very slightly on these last three notes to introduce an element of suspense. Then for the final note of this section of the piece simply play the same two notes, middle C and the C above middle C, but hold the notes down for two beats rather than continuing with the staccato waltz rhythm. Again, you may want to count this bar fairly slowly compared to the usual tempo of the piece.
The next section changes rhythm slightly. It is still a waltz, but the notes are played in groups of two, with the third of every three beats left as a pause. To make life more complicated the first of the two notes played comes on the last beat of the previous bar. So after you have held down the middle C and C above middle C for two beats in the sixteenth bar of the piece, as previously described, you jump up to play the C above middle C and the E above the C above middle C for one note, then on the first beat of the seventeenth bar, play the D above the C above middle C and the B above middle C (and hold this note for a pause on the second beat of the seventeenth bar). Then using the same rhythm, play the A above middle C and the C above middle C for the third beat of this bar, and move down to the G and the B for two beats.
In the next bar we return to playing three notes as in earlier bars. On the last beat of the bar repeat the G and the B, then repeat this combination and continue.