March of the Wooden Soldiers (Album for the Young, Op. 39, No. 5)

Learn this piece

Composer

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Level

Advanced

Key

D major

Metre

2/4

Tempo

140 BPM

Length

48 bars, about 1 minute

Hands

both

Trains

A toy soldiers' march in D major, Tempo di Marcia: crisp staccato chords and dotted rhythms in the right hand over a marching left hand, quick and precise at quarter = 140, with a drum figure of repeated A's in the left hand (bars 8, 16 and 40).

How to practise it

• Loop bars 1-8 with the Metronome at 90 BPM, and raise the tempo toward 140 BPM only when every short rest after a chord stays clear.
• In bars 2 and 4 both hands play the same dotted rhythm together. Listen first, then practise them slowly so the short 16th lands exactly with the other hand.
• In bars 8 and 16 the left hand plays a drum figure of repeated As after the right hand's short chord. Keep each note short and steady while the right hand rests.
• In bars 18 and 20 your left hand holds a chord for the whole bar under the right hand's dotted figure. Hold it full length while the right hand stays crisp.

Where this score came from

Licence: Public domain

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=1806

Credit: Typeset by an anonymous typesetter for the Mutopia Project (Mutopia-2015/01/17-1806) from the Schirmer edition of 1904, and placed in the public domain by the typesetter.

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