Practice paths
Answers to "what should I play first?" and "what should I play next?" Each path orders pieces towards a goal - a piece you want to play, or a technique you want - and says what each piece teaches and how to practise it.
The classic first pieces after a method book
Bach's minuets, Schumann's and Tchaikovsky's Albums for the Young, and on to Clementi's sonatina.
- Album for the Young Op.68 No.1 "Melody"
- Menuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114
- Menuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115
- Album for the Young Op.68 No.2 "Soldiers' March"
- …
From Burgmüller's 25 Etudes to Für Elise
One technique per piece: twelve numbers from a collection Japanese piano teachers swear by, ending with Für Elise.
- No.1 La Candeur
- No.2 L'Arabesque
- No.3 La Pastorale
- No.4 La Petite Réunion
- …
Sonatinas and Inventions, on to a Mozart sonata
Kuhlau, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin: the intermediate standards, leading to every movement of Mozart's K. 545.
- Sonatine Op.20 No.1: I. Allegro
- Piano Sonata No.20 Op.49-2 - II. Tempo di Menuetto
- Piano Sonata No.20 Op.49-2 - I. Allegro ma non troppo
- Invention No.1 in C major
- …
The routine every path shares
- Listen through once with the falling notes to get the shape of the whole piece.
- Slow it to around 0.5x and learn the notes and fingering one hand at a time.
- Cut out the hard spots with the A-B loop and repeat them until they run without a stop.
- Put the hands together and bring the speed back up a little at a time.
- Log the time and what you noticed in the practice journal - it is where you pick up next time.
How the paths are made
The pieces come from the Mutopia Project, which publishes public-domain scores and performance data. Which pieces go on a path, their order, and what each one teaches and how to practise it, are this site's own.
The pieces are chosen mainly from what is standard in two places at once: the teaching material most used in Japanese piano studios (Burgmüller's 25 Etudes, the Sonatina Album, the Inventions) and the set pieces of North American graded exams such as the RCM. They are ordered so each adds roughly one new thing, with a ten-point difficulty score - built from each piece's tier and how many notes it plays per second - as a further guide.
The tips stay within what anyone holding the score can check: key, metre, texture, the technique a piece is known for. Bar numbers differ between editions, so none are given.