Minuet in G major (first part, arranged for beginners)

Learn this piece

Composer

Christian Petzold (attributed; Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh. 114)

Arrangement

Musicanyya practice material

Level

Beginner

Key

G major

Metre

3/4

Tempo

92 BPM

Length

16 bars, about 1 minute

Hands

both

Trains

The first part of the Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, played twice: the tune in quarters and even eighths over held chords of G, C and D. Lean on beat 1; the hand moves at the leaps from G up to E and from G down to G.

How to practise it

• The hand moves twice in bars 2-4: from G up to E into bar 3, and from the high G down an octave in bar 4. Loop bars 2-4 at 50 BPM until both moves land on time.
• Bars 5-7 each start with a quarter note and then run in eighths. Keep the eighths even and hold the A of bar 8 for all three beats.
• Bars 9-14 are the same as bars 1-6, so only bars 15-16 are new: A, B, A, G, F-sharp, then the long G. The repeat sign at bar 16 sends you back to play it all once more.
• The left hand holds one chord a bar, G, C or D, and changes in most bars. Try it alone first and read the changes in bars 1-8 until they come without looking down.

Where this score came from

Arrangement for this app (CC0)

Melody from Bach-Gesellschaft (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=75), public domain; left-hand chords our own (CC0)

Changes from the source: Left-hand block chords are our own (CC0). Only the first part (bars 1 to 16), with its repeat. The mordents (bars 3, 5, 11 and 13) and the grace note before the A of bar 8 are left out. The tempo, quarter = 92, is ours: the source prints none (its MIDI file plays 140). The left hand holds one chord a bar (G, C, D) instead of the source's bass line.

Other versions

• Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114 Intermediate

More at this level

• Amazing Grace (arranged for beginners) Traditional (American hymn tune "New Britain")
• Lullaby (arranged for beginners) Johannes Brahms (Wiegenlied, Op. 49 No. 4)
• Waltz, Op. 39 No. 15 (theme, arranged for beginners) Johannes Brahms (Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 39 No. 15)
• Greensleeves (arranged for beginners) Traditional (English, 16th century)
• In the Hall of the Mountain King (theme, arranged for beginners) Edvard Grieg (Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 No. 4)