May, Dear May, Soon You’ll Be Here Again! (Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 13)

Robert Schumann · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Romantic · Piano

A spring reverie in E major: a tender right-hand melody, accompanied by an inner voice that answers it. From the Album for the Young Op. 68 (1848), 43 pieces Schumann wrote for his eldest daughter’s birthday. E major, 2/4, 28 bars (about one minute), 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.
• Play very legato and unhurried; the slowings at the ends of phrases are part of the character. Each piece tells a little scene: look for the character suggested by the title. Key signature with 4 sharps: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. The piece starts with a pickup: count the incomplete bar before coming in.

More pieces by Robert Schumann

• Siciliano (Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 11)
• Untitled piece “* * *” (Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 26)
• Italian Sailors’ Song (Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 36)
• A Curious Story (Kinderszenen Op. 15 No. 2)
• Blind Man’s Buff (Kinderszenen Op. 15 No. 3)
• Happy Enough (Kinderszenen Op. 15 No. 5)
• An Important Event (Kinderszenen Op. 15 No. 6)
• Scheherazade (Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 32)

Source : Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 2.5