Take the tour ×   Would someone kindly breakdown how a Mazurka
makes sense rhythmically?  share|improve this question add
comment  1 Answer  up vote 6 down vote accepted  The basic idea
of the style is that it's in 3/4 time (or other triple meter),
with accents on beats TWO and THREE.  The accents are what makes
it feel unbalanced. You are probably used to waltz style, where
the accents are on ONE and THREE. As such, it may be easy to
mistake beat 3 of a mazurka for beat 1 of a waltz, since those
accents are in the same place if you phase the mazurka by a
beat.  I haven't played too many mazurkas, but I have lots of
experience with "weird" 3/4 time with subdivisions and accents
that differ greatly from regular waltes, so mazurka rhythm
doesn't bother me. What I would suggest you do is listen to some
artist recordings of Chopin mazurkas while following along with
your score (so you don't get lost in the rubato), and speak
along "one TWO THREE one TWO THREE" to get yourself used to the
pattern of accents.  "But