Read at Sight

Read at Sight

Volume 7B: Repertoire, Levels 9-10

26 complete pieces by the great keyboard composers, from Bach to Debussy and Joplin, to learn and keep.

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Section 1

Baroque

Music from about 1600 to 1750, written for the harpsichord, clavichord and organ: instruments with no sustaining pedal and little or no change of loudness from the touch. Its keyboard music is woven from independent lines. In an invention or a fugue each hand carries its own voice, the same motive passes from one to the other, and the interest is in how the lines answer each other. Dances (gavotte, bourree, minuet) and preludes built on broken chords are the other two families here.

What it asks of you

Independent hands: each voice shaped as if it were sung, with its own phrasing. Articulation instead of pedal: detach most eighths, slur most sixteenths, and use little or no pedal. A steady pulse, and ornaments (trills, mordents) played on the beat, starting on the note above unless the score says otherwise.

  1. J. S. Bach: Fugue in C minor, BWV 847Level 9 · about 2 min
  2. D. Scarlatti: Sonata in G, K. 455Level 9 · about 4 min

Section 2

Classical

Music from about 1750 to 1820, written for the new fortepiano, whose touch could play loud and soft (hence its name). Haydn, Mozart and the young Beethoven write a singing tune over a simple accompaniment, in clear phrases of four and eight bars, and build movements from contrasting themes: sonata form, rondo, minuet and trio, variations.

What it asks of you

Clean, even passagework (scales and broken chords exactly in time), a light accompaniment under a clear melody (Alberti basses quieter than the tune), and contrasts of loud and soft made by touch. Use the pedal sparingly, to join harmonies, not to blur scales.

  1. W. A. Mozart: Sonata in A, K. 331: III. Rondo alla turcaLevel 9 · about 4 min
  2. W. A. Mozart: Sonata in C minor, K. 457: I. Molto allegroLevel 10 · about 7 min
  3. L. van Beethoven: Sonata in G, Op. 79: I. Presto alla tedescaLevel 9 · about 5 min
  4. L. van Beethoven: "Pathétique" Sonata, Op. 13: III. RondoLevel 9 · about 5 min
  5. L. van Beethoven: "Pathétique" Sonata, Op. 13: I. Grave - AllegroLevel 10 · about 8 min
  6. L. van Beethoven: "Moonlight" Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2: III. Presto agitatoLevel 10 · about 7 min

Section 3

Early Romantic

The first half of the nineteenth century: Schubert, Field, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin. The piano becomes bigger and richer, and composers write short character pieces (nocturnes, songs without words, preludes, waltzes, impromptus) that express one mood. The melody sings like a voice over wide-spread accompaniment held together by the pedal.

What it asks of you

A singing tone: weight into the keys for the melody, a soft accompaniment. Pedal changed with each harmony (press it just after the new chord, not with it). Rubato that bends the time but keeps the left hand steady. Wide left-hand leaps, found by looking ahead, not at the hands.

  1. F. Schubert: Impromptu in G-flat, D. 899 No. 3Level 9 · about 6 min
  2. F. Schubert: Impromptu in E-flat, D. 899 No. 2Level 10 · about 5 min
  3. F. Schubert: Impromptu in A-flat, D. 899 No. 4Level 10 · about 8 min
  4. F. Mendelssohn: Folk Song in A minor, Op. 53 No. 5Level 9 · about 3 min
  5. R. Schumann: Romance in F-sharp, Op. 28 No. 2Level 9 · about 4 min
  6. F. Chopin: Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1Level 9 · about 4 min
  7. F. Chopin: Waltz in D-flat 'Minute', Op. 64 No. 1Level 9 · about 2 min
  8. F. Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66Level 10 · about 5 min

Section 4

Late Romantic

The second half of the nineteenth century: Brahms, Liszt, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and at its end Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. The textures grow fuller and the harmony richer, and national styles (Grieg's Norwegian music, Tchaikovsky's Russian) join the German and French traditions.

What it asks of you

Full chords voiced to the top, longer phrases held together by the pedal, and steady control of building to a climax: a crescendo planned over many bars, not one.

  1. J. Brahms: Intermezzo in A, Op. 118 No. 2Level 9 · about 6 min
  2. F. Liszt: Consolation No. 3 in D-flat, S. 172Level 9 · about 4 min
  3. E. Grieg: Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op. 65 No. 6Level 9 · about 7 min
  4. P. I. Tchaikovsky: January: By the Hearth, Op. 37a No. 1Level 9 · about 5 min
  5. A. Scriabin: Prelude in C, Op. 11 No. 1Level 9 · about 1 min
  6. S. Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2Level 10 · about 4 min

Section 5

Into the twentieth century

Around 1900 three very different composers turn away from the Romantic piano: Satie with slow, bare dances; Joplin with ragtime, the syncopated piano music of America; and Debussy with harmony heard as colour.

What it asks of you

For Satie: absolute calm, an even left hand and a pedal changed on every bar. For Joplin: a strict, steady left hand ('never play ragtime fast', he wrote) under a syncopated right hand, crisp and light.

  1. S. Joplin: Maple Leaf RagLevel 9 · about 3 min
  2. C. Debussy: Arabesque No. 1Level 9 · about 4 min
  3. C. Debussy: Arabesque No. 2Level 9 · about 4 min
  4. C. Debussy: Clair de luneLevel 9 · about 5 min

How to use this book

What this book is

Volumes 1-6 taught you to read. This book is music to learn and keep: complete pieces, not exercises. Each one will take from a few days to a few weeks. Every piece is printed in full, exactly as its composer wrote it.

Levels

Each piece has a level. Level 7 pieces can be learned in days after Volume 6; Level 8 pieces take a week or two (faster passages, wider stretches, pedal and voicing matter). Book 7B continues with Levels 9 and 10. The index at the back lists this book's pieces by level: a suggested order.

How to learn a piece

1. Read it through once at sight, slowly, without stopping, to hear what it is. 2. Find the hard places and learn them first, hands separately, then together, slowly with a metronome. 3. Learn the piece in sections of four to eight bars, joining each to the next. 4. Raise the speed in small steps; never faster than you can play evenly. 5. Then play it for someone. A piece is learned when you can play it steadily after a day away from it.

Keep reading

Do not stop sight-reading while you learn these pieces. Ten minutes a day of new music at Level 6-7 keeps your reading growing: hymns, chorales, easier pieces by the composers in this book.

The sources

The scores were engraved by volunteers of the Mutopia Project and are public domain or Creative Commons. The note above each piece names its source; the last page lists them all with their licences.

Sources and licences

Every score in this book comes from the Mutopia Project (www.mutopiaproject.org), whose volunteers engrave public-domain music with LilyPond. Each source was upgraded to the current LilyPond version and set in this book's layout; the notes were not changed (a few engraving slips, such as unclosed slurs and zigzag beams, were corrected). Public-domain sources may be used freely. Sources under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) require credit (given below) and that adapted versions be shared under the same licence: this book's engravings of those pieces are therefore released under CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources under CC BY 3.0 require credit only.