From Burgmüller's 25 Etudes to Für Elise
Burgmüller's 25 Etudes, Op. 100 is the collection Japanese piano teachers most often turn to after a first method book - the standard bridge from beginner to intermediate. They are studies, but each has a title, "La Candeur," "Arabesque," and technique and expression are practised in the same few bars.
This path takes twelve numbers, mostly from the first half, and names the technique each one mainly trains. At the end sits the piece so many people start piano for: Für Elise. Its singing line, broken chords, staccato and two-note slurs are each met first, one at a time, in Burgmüller.
There is no need to perfect one before moving on. Go to the next once you can play through without stopping, and come back later; you will find the earlier ones have become easier.
- Who it is for
- For players past a first method book who can manage simple pieces with both hands - and a direct route for anyone who wants to play Für Elise.
- Where it takes you
- The basic techniques intermediate pieces assume - and Für Elise, played through.
The pieces, in order
- STEP 1
No.1 La Candeur
What this piece teaches
Number one. As the title "La Candeur" (candour) suggests, it asks for a plain, smooth, singing legato.
How to practise it
- Leave no gap in the melody: press the next key before releasing the last.
- Set down the last note of each phrase softly. Looping just the phrase endings at 0.75x helps.
- STEP 2
No.2 L'Arabesque
What this piece teaches
Quick groups of sixteenth notes against crisp staccato in the other hand. The lesson is evenness of the fingers.
How to practise it
- At 0.5x, make every sixteenth the same weight and the same distance apart. Speed comes afterwards.
- The hands swap roles at points. The colours of the falling notes show whose turn it is.
- Raise the speed in small steps - 0.6x, 0.75x, 0.9x - and it will hold together.
- STEP 3
No.3 La Pastorale
What this piece teaches
A pastoral in 6/8: six eighth notes felt as two beats of three, with a gentle rocking motion.
How to practise it
- Rather than counting all six, feel two large beats swaying.
- Turn on beat lines in settings to see the beat drawn across the falling notes.
- STEP 4
No.4 La Petite Réunion
What this piece teaches
"The Little Party." The hands trade short figures back and forth like chatter, and chords played staccato must sound together.
How to practise it
- When two or more notes sound together, they must land at the same instant - you can see and hear when they do not.
- Where the hands hand over, hear the end of one and the start of the other as a single phrase.
- STEP 5
No.5 Innocence
What this piece teaches
"Innocence." A light piece in triple time, for learning a touch light enough to play fine figures and ornaments without strain.
How to practise it
- Keep the wrist loose rather than working from the fingertips alone; tension kills the lightness.
- Ornamental notes sit below the main ones. Check in the score view which notes carry the line.
- STEP 6
No.6 Progrès
What this piece teaches
"Progress." Scales throughout: moving the hand by passing the thumb under, in both hands, until it is secure.
How to practise it
- The note where the thumb passes under tends to break or bump. Loop just those spots.
- Where both hands run scales together, learn each hand at 0.5x first and settle the fingering before combining.
- STEP 7
No.7 Le Courant Limpide
What this piece teaches
"The Limpid Stream." The right hand keeps up a fine, unbroken figure like running water. The lesson is keeping a broken figure even.
How to practise it
- Much of the right-hand figure lies under the hand, so keep the hand shape still and the wrist level.
- The left hand supports from underneath. Add it gently once the right hand runs through on its own.
- STEP 8
No.8 La Gracieuse
What this piece teaches
"Grace." Ornaments such as turns, worked into the melody without stopping its flow.
How to practise it
- Slow the ornamented spots to 0.5x and watch how many notes there are and where they fall.
- Do not cram the ornaments in; give them a natural speed that fits inside the beat.
- STEP 9
No.10 Tendre Fleur
What this piece teaches
"Tender Flower." A string of two-note slurs: the first note a little heavier, the second released lightly.
How to practise it
- Let the wrist rise a little as you release the second note, and it will lighten by itself.
- In slurred chords, listen that every note is released together.
- STEP 10
No.12 L'Adieu
What this piece teaches
"Farewell." Over a flowing accompaniment in A minor, the melody has to stand out clearly - practice in giving notes different weights.
How to practise it
- Pick out and play the melody notes alone first, so your hand knows which they are, then add the accompaniment. The score view shows them.
- There are many more accompaniment notes than melody notes; keep them quiet or they will cover it.
- STEP 11
No.15 Ballade
What this piece teaches
A ballade in C minor. It opens with the melody low in the left hand under staccato chords in the right - the left hand sings, and the middle section in C major brings the contrast.
How to practise it
- At the start the left-hand colour carries the tune. Keep the right-hand chords short and light so they stay out of its way.
- The opening theme returns later. Loop the middle section separately and the contrast becomes clear.
- STEP 12
No.18 Inquiétude
What this piece teaches
"Disquiet." In E minor, restless short figures convey unease. The two-note slurs and staccato from earlier, now at a quicker tempo.
How to practise it
- The end of a slur and a staccato are both short, but not the same. Try them at 0.6x and hear the difference.
- Go back to "La Candeur" now and notice how differently your hands move.
- STEP 13
Für Elise
What this piece teaches
The goal of this path, and everything the Burgmüller pieces taught in one: a singing line, broken chords, staccato, two-note slurs. Add the alternating notes in the right hand, the pedal, and middle sections of quite different character.
How to practise it
- Finish the opening theme first. It returns several times, so once you can play it you can play close to half the piece.
- Hand the line from the left-hand broken chord to the right-hand melody without a gap - the place where the two colours fall in turn.
- Treat the middle sections as separate pieces: loop each one and learn them one by one.
- Log each session in the practice journal. With a longer piece, seeing the progress is what keeps you going.
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.
Other paths
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"
- …
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
- …