Sonatinas and Inventions, on to a Mozart sonata
At intermediate level, Japanese students typically move from the Sonatina Album to the Sonata Album, and on to Bach's Inventions. Graded exams in North America (the RCM, for one) keep returning to the same ground: Beethoven's sonatinas, the Inventions, Chopin's Preludes, Mozart's sonatas.
This path draws the pieces standard in both into a single route. Kuhlau and Beethoven bring sonata form and the rondo; Bach, playing two voices at once; Chopin, Romantic expression - and then every movement of Mozart's Sonata in C major, K. 545.
Classical style lives on even notes, clearly marked phrases, and contrast - major and minor, loud and soft. Each movement has its own character; ask what each one is saying as you play.
- Who it is for
- For players who have finished Burgmüller or a first sonatina and can learn pieces a few pages long.
- Where it takes you
- A feel for sonata form and two-part writing - and Mozart's K. 545, complete.
The pieces, in order
What this piece teaches
The first movement of Kuhlau's Sonatina Op. 20 No. 1, a Sonatina Album staple. Sonata form - themes set out, developed and brought back - is clear across a whole movement.
How to practise it
- Listen through first and find where the opening theme comes back. That is your map of the movement.
- It is longer, so loop and learn it theme by theme.
- Mark it "practising" under My Songs in the practice journal to keep track of a multi-movement piece.
What this piece teaches
The second movement, Tempo di Menuetto, of Beethoven's Sonata Op. 49 No. 2: a graceful theme that keeps returning, rondo-fashion.
How to practise it
- Each time the theme returns, play it with the same character.
- The episodes between its appearances are different in mood. Loop them separately and make the difference heard.
What this piece teaches
The first movement of the same sonata, an Allegro in G major. Triplet figures and sharp contrasts of loud and soft are already Beethoven's own.
How to practise it
- Check the triplets are even by watching the spacing of the falling notes at 0.5x.
- Some dynamic changes are sudden. Check the markings in the score view and commit to the contrast.
What this piece teaches
Invention No. 1 in C major. The short motif heard at the start passes between the hands and, varied and turned upside down, builds the whole piece.
How to practise it
- Once you know the opening motif, follow the score view and look for every place it returns - sometimes upside down.
- When the motif moves to the left hand, the left hand leads; step the right hand back at that moment.
- Put the hands together at 0.5x and raise the speed only while you can still hear both voices.
What this piece teaches
Invention No. 8 in F major. A motif that springs up a broken chord, with the left hand following close behind the right as in a canon.
How to practise it
- Check that the following left hand has the same character as the right hand it imitates.
- It is a lively piece, but clarity at 0.75x comes before speed.
What this piece teaches
Prelude No. 1 in C major from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. One broken-chord shape runs from start to finish, and only the harmony moves. It sits in the Sonatina Album too - a standard way into intermediate playing.
How to practise it
- Play each bar's broken chord as a block chord first. Once you know the harmonic route, memorising is easier.
- With one shape repeating, the least unevenness shows. At 0.6x, make every note the same length and weight.
- Where the harmony moves from tension towards resolution, a slight change of volume lets the piece breathe.
What this piece teaches
The Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 in E minor, the usual first Chopin at intermediate level. Under a spare right-hand melody, left-hand chords repeat, shifting a note at a time: control in keeping them even and quiet, and a first taste of Romantic expression.
How to practise it
- Play the left-hand chords alone and find which note changes each time. Leaning very slightly on it brings out the shifting harmony.
- With so few notes in the right hand, the colour of each one matters.
What this piece teaches
The first movement of Mozart's Sonata in C major, K. 545: the famous theme, runs of scales, and a recapitulation that begins not in C but in F major.
How to practise it
- The long scales bump where the thumb passes under. Loop the scales out on their own.
- Keep the left-hand broken chords (the Alberti bass) much quieter than the right, and even.
- Listen for where the opening theme returns and notice that it starts in a different key from the first time.
What this piece teaches
The second movement, Andante in G major. The right hand sings a long melody over a constantly moving left hand - how a Classical slow movement sings.
How to practise it
- Play the left hand alone and check it flows at an even speed and level.
- Treat the right hand as an aria sung on the piano, aware of where each phrase peaks and ends.
What this piece teaches
The finale, a Rondo in C major: a short, bright theme that keeps coming back, a light-footed close. It draws together the evenness and lightness of everything before it.
How to practise it
- The theme is short; get it light and secure first.
- Play it straight after the first two movements to feel how differently the three are characterised - and note the day you first play them all through in the practice journal.
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"
- …
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
- …