Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20

Learn this piece

Composer

Frédéric Chopin

Level

Advanced

Key

C minor

Metre

4/4

Tempo

42 BPM

Length

13 bars, about 1 minute

Hands

both

Trains

Dense four- and five-note block chords in both hands (up to an octave; the right hand's three ninths rolled), a full ff-to-pp dynamic range with two written crescendi, and a two-layer right-hand texture (a sustained chord against a decorative turn figure) that asks for careful voicing and pedalling rather than finger speed.

How to practise it

• Each beat is a right-hand chord over a left-hand octave. Start with the Metronome at 30 BPM, play bars 1-4 ff with the top note of each chord loudest, and roll the chord on beat 3 of bar 2 quickly from the bottom.
• In bars 5-6 the left hand's octaves walk down by half steps from C to G. Listen to that line while the right hand stays p.
• Bars 9-12 repeat bars 5-8, now pp: make them clearly softer than the first time, then grow again in bar 11.

Where this score came from

Licence: Public domain

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=472

Limitations: Written pedal is not played by the engine (facts.hasPedal is informational only).; Slurs and the exact hairpin start/stop beat positions from the source engraving are approximated, not reproduced to the exact beat; they do not change the sounding pitches, rhythm or overall dynamic shape.

More at this level

• La Candeur (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 1) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• Ballade (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 15) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• l'Arabesque (25 Etudes faciles, Op. 100, No. 2) Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
• Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 ("Largo") Frédéric Chopin
• Prelude in B minor, Op. 28 No. 6 Frédéric Chopin