On the other hand, notating E3 and B3b (i.e. the E and Bb below middle C) on the upper staff with a treble clef seems a little unusual to me (it certainly would require a lot of ledger lines between the staves). I would need to see a scan of the measures in question to understand the fuller context before I could really comment further.

I did a passable job sight-reading the first bar and a half.

Simple, you just have to hold the sustain pedal from the start of the first bar until the second triplet in the second bar.

In measures 5 and 6, one thought is that if this were being played by a group, different people would play the chords vs. the melody (if the melody were being played at all, and not just left entirely to the singer).

One solution is to not play the melody, but to sing it.

Another solution, if you're not singing (or if you are singing but want the doubling of the melody), and this is what I'd do, is use the sostenuto (middle) pedal to sustain the first chord of m.5, C G (in LH) and E Bb (in RH. Then play the melody in the RH, holding the A up to the very beginning of the third beat of m.6. Then abandon the A, and play the triplets, LH on the lower staff, RH on the upper staff. This does leave out the rest of the A for m. 6, but I think the triplets are more important than sustaining the A.

I say that's what I'd do, but it requires a true sostenuto pedal, as on a grand and on a very few models of upright. In practice, I have an upright with a bass damper pedal for the middle pedal, not a true sostenuto. So then I'd have to come up with some other solution. For example, I might add Bb (an octave below the written Bb) for the LH in m.5, and only play the RH E Bb chord for an eighth note, and then abandon it for the melody. Choosing the Bb to play (an octave lower) in the LH, rather than the E, depends on using music theory to realize that this is a C7 chord, and that the key note in a C7 chord, in addition to the root C, is the seventh Bb. Or I might go a bit farther and decide that E is more important than G, to establish this as a major chord, and play C E B in the LH. Playing notes so close together so low in the bass might sound muddy in any of those solutions, so I might not like the sound of this, or I might just play the shell C Bb.

Or I might transpose the E up an octave, and then I could play it (indeed I could play Bb E in the RH, around middle C) while playing the melody. If I did that I wouldn't double the Bb in the LH, and just play LH C G as written.

Sostenuto pedal is rarely marked. You need to deduce the need for it from the demands of the music.

If the melody and accompaniment were a bit different you could use the damper (right) pedal and then you could also sustain the A. But given how the melody goes in m. 5, and the triplets in m.6, that would result in complete mush.

I am sure this was very helpful to the OP.

I think you missed my post

I'd bet 90% of my pop music looks just like this. I'd never play out if I had to play it exactly, or depend on a sostun.... pedal.
Pop music isn't about the exact notes.

Cathy

WinSchutten - I'm swamped with work until at least Friday this week, and maybe even thru then. But I'll try, on either Fri or Sat, to record this segment for you, and post it here, so you can see/hear what I mean. But it's definitely playable.

So watch this space!

Cathy

Since that C and Eb chord in the left hand of the last bar is a roll/arpeggio, you're allowed to hit the low C and the Eb can come very quickly afterwards. So with that arpeggio you'll play all five notes in quick succession

So - don't try to play it exactly. And in particularly, don't hold the A in the 6th measure down all the way thru, and use the left hand on the bottom triplets and the right hand on the top triplets and it will be perfect.

Pop music isn't about the exact notes.