German Song (Album for the Young Op. 39 No. 17)

Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski · Level 2 (Beginner) · Romantic · Piano

A ländler in E-flat major: a folk tune in three beats, with thirds and sixths in the right hand. From the Album for the Young Op. 39 (1878), twenty-four easy pieces Tchaikovsky wrote for his nephew, on the model of Schumann’s Album for the Young. E♭ major, 3/4, 26 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.
• Sway on the first beat like a country dance and play the double notes exactly together. The left hand makes wide leaps: look at the landing note in advance and move early, without rushing the rhythm. For chords, shape the hand in the air before landing, all notes together. Start hands separately in Wait mode, then put hands together at a slow tempo before speeding up gradually.

More pieces by Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski

• Swan Lake: Neapolitan Dance (piano arrangement)
• The Seasons: January (O 37,1)
• The Seasons: February (Carnival)
• The Seasons: August (Harvest)
• March of the Wooden Soldiers (Op. 39 No. 5)
• Morning Prayer (Op. 39 No. 1)
• Old French Song (Op. 39 No. 16)
• Swan Lake, swan theme

Source : PDMX / MuseScore · CC0 1.0