The Seasons: August (Harvest)

Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski · Level 6 (Expert) · Romantic · Piano

From The Seasons Op. 37a (1876), twelve musical pictures, one for each month. B minor, 6/8, 199 bars (about 6 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.
• The piece starts with a pickup: count the incomplete bar before coming in. In 6/8, count the beats as groups of three eighths (dotted beats) to keep the lilt. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. For chords, shape the hand in the air before landing, all notes together.

More pieces by Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski

• Swan Lake: Neapolitan Dance (piano arrangement)
• The Seasons: January (O 37,1)
• The Seasons: February (Carnival)
• 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
• Winter Morning (Album for the Young Op. 39 No. 2)

Source : Mutopia Project · Public Domain