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Free sheet music · Noctave edition

Progress, Op. 100 No. 6

Friedrich Burgmüller 1806–1874

Intermediate · 5/101851C major48 sMelodic studies
Portrait of Friedrich Burgmüller, in moonlight

Listen

The first 20 seconds, played by the piano of Noctave (the app's SoundFont).

The piece

Two hands climbing together in parallel scales, a tenth apart, then broken chords coming back down in small hops: this C major study, marked Allegro, puts both hands on an equal footing from the first bar. The second part sets them talking, the right hand tossing out a broken chord that the left answers lower down. Later the right hand repeats an E while a neighbouring note climbs above it step by step.

The parallel scales are the real subject. The thumbs do not cross at the same moment in both hands, and that is exactly where the sixteenths slip out of line. Practise each hand alone and note where its thumb passes, then put them together very slowly, checking that both land on the eighth note at once. In the broken chords, each pair is slurred then detached: drop the hand onto the first note and lift it on the second. The left hand, at up to four notes per second, needs the same clarity. Wait mode helps line up the two thumbs before you play in time.

What makes it hard

Left hand
The left hand plays 47% of the notes, up to 4 a second.

Measured on the score, repeats included, at the written tempo.

Play it in Noctave

The score, free. The version that falls in light, in Noctave: the notes come down to your keyboard at your tempo, then fade to leave you the score. Noctave is coming soon to Android: leave your address to hear when it is out.

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