Prelude in C major

About this piece

Every bar is one chord, broken into the same pattern and played twice. The left hand holds its two notes while the right hand plays the rest of the chord. Find each chord shape with your hands first, then play the pattern slowly and evenly. Near the end the bass stays on a low G for eight bars before the music comes home to C.

What it practices

• broken chords
• holding notes in the left hand
• steady sixteenth notes
• reading chord shapes

Where the notes come from

Mutopia Project edition (Tobias Erbsland; public domain), compared with this file note by note by our checking script.

How to practice with it

1. Listen first. Press Play and follow the moving line with your eyes. The lit notes and keys show what sounds right now: blue is the right hand, orange the left.
2. Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start.
3. One hand at a time. Choose Right or Left, learn that hand, then put them together.
4. Wait for me. Turn it on and press Start. The lit keys show what to play, and the music waits until you play them, on the screen, on your computer keyboard or on a MIDI keyboard.
5. Loop the hard part. Turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row.

Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. The computer keys A S D F G H J K play C D E F G A B C (press ⌨ Computer keys under the music to see them on the piano).