Sonatina in C major, Op. 36 No. 1 (1st movement)

Learn this piece

Composer

Muzio Clementi

Level

Advanced

Key

C major

Metre

2/2

Tempo

156 BPM

Length

38 bars, about 2 minutes

Hands

both

Trains

A brisk single-line melody in the right hand (scale runs, octave leaps, broken octaves) over a light left hand of mostly quarter, half and whole notes, with broken-chord eighths in bars 9, 11, 32 and 34: an exposition that moves to G major, a short development that turns to C minor (bars 16-23), and the return in C - reading fluency and a fast, even tempo more than technical difficulty.

How to practise it

• In bars 1-2 the right hand outlines a C major chord, then bars 3-4 run in even eighths, and the left hand answers with four falling eighths in bar 4. Start with the Metronome at 100 BPM.
• Bars 9-12 are the hard spot: the right hand leaps up an octave in bars 9 and 11 while the left hand plays broken-chord eighths. Loop them at 90 BPM.
• In bars 20-21 the right hand rocks between two Gs an octave apart. Keep the eighths light and even, and listen to the left hand's quarter notes below.
• From bar 24 the opening tune comes back an octave lower, down to G3. Read the low notes carefully before you play them at tempo.

Where this score came from

Licence: Public domain

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=804

Credit: Typeset by Brian D. Rude for the Mutopia Project (Mutopia-2016/11/30-804) from the Sonatina Album (G. Schirmer, 1893), and placed in the public domain by the typesetter.

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• Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20 Frédéric Chopin
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