A Breeze from Alabama (march and two-step)

Scott Joplin · Level 5 (Advanced) · jazz and blues · Piano

A 1902 march and two-step, dedicated by Joplin to the circus bandleader P. G. Lowery. C major, 2/4, 173 bars (about 4 minutes), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Think brass band: clear basses on the beats, light chords on the off-beats. The piece starts with a pickup: count the incomplete bar before coming in. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. Triplets and other tuplets must be perfectly even: count them aloud with the metronome.

More pieces by Scott Joplin

• Elite Syncopations
• Something Doing
• The Strenuous Life
• Wall Street Rag
• The Entertainer
• Search-Light Rag
• Peacherine Rag
• Original Rags

Source : Mutopia Project · Public Domain