Skills · Making it music
Joining phrases & playing through
Practise across bar/phrase boundaries, then join the piece, not just repeating the start.
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Practised in these lessons
- Lesson 30
Final etude: keep three things going
R syncopated melody; L broken-chord accompaniment; changing dynamics.
Open → - Lesson 180
Complete piece: Hot Cross Buns
Your first complete piece: all eight bars, keeping the beat through long notes, eighths and rests.
Open → - Lesson 181
Complete piece: Lightly Row
Play all 16 bars in C position: the right hand sings phrase A, the left hand sings phrase B in the bass clef.
Open → - Lesson 65
Carrying the phrase across the bar line
Join the two hard bars instead of going back to the start after each mistake.
Open → - Lesson 182
Complete piece: Ode to Joy
Put the hands together for all 16 bars: a familiar tune over root–fifth bass notes.
Open → - Lesson 183
Complete piece: the G scale becomes a song
The G major scale as an eight-bar piece: up an octave, back down and home.
Open → - Lesson 184
Complete piece: four chords tell a story
An eight-bar piece of close-position chords: C–Am–F–G and home to C.
Open → - Lesson 185
Complete piece: Twinkle with three accompaniments
The whole 12 bars, a different accompaniment in each phrase: roots, block chords, then the broken 1–5–3–5.
Open → - Lesson 186
Complete piece: Evening waltz
A 16-bar waltz: a legato melody over bass–chord–chord with short chords, with dynamics shaping each phrase.
Open → - Lesson 187
Complete piece: A walk across the octave
A 12-bar piece beyond the five-finger position: thumb under, crossing over, and moving the hand during rests.
Open → - Lesson 188
Complete piece: Minuet in G
The whole 16-bar A section of the Minuet in G, not just the first phrase.
Open → - Lesson 189
Complete piece: Bells and echoes
A 12-bar piece read by intervals: a call and its echo, then two notes sounding together.
Open → - Lesson 190
Complete piece: Song in A minor
A 12-bar piece in A minor: G sharp pulls back to A, the i–iv–V–i progression.
Open → - Lesson 191
Complete piece: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (round)
A complete round in 6/8: the left hand enters two bars later and sings the same tune.
Open → - Lesson 192
Complete piece: The Canon progression
Four variations over the same I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V progression, growing to the last phrase.
Open → - Lesson 193
Complete piece: Ballad in seventh colours
A 12-bar ballad: seventh chords, a resolving sus and a bass walking down step by step.
Open → - Lesson 194
Complete piece: Little river
A 12-bar piece with a flowing accompaniment: Alberti in phrase A, then the 1–5–8–5 broken chord in phrase B.
Open → - Lesson 195
Complete piece: New day in D
A 12-bar piece in D major, read fresh with F sharp and C sharp.
Open → - Lesson 154
A little summary piece
Combining melody, broken chords and cadence
Open → - Lesson 155
Morning sunlight
Right-hand melody over held left-hand chords
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 156
Two leaves
Left-hand melody, right-hand chords as background
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 157
Birdsong by the window
Passing the melody between the hands
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 158
A little garden path
Changing chords with close positions and half notes
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 159
Clouds changing colour
The melody on the top note of chord inversions
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 160
Afternoon on the porch
The i-iv-v-i progression and a gentle minor colour
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 161
A little stream
Left arpeggiates evenly, right sings the phrase legato
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 162
Dew on a leaf
A melody from broken chords in the right hand
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 163
Two rivers
Parallel and contrary motion through a broken-chord motif
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 164
A slow lullaby
Two left-hand half notes over four right-hand quarters
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 165
An unsent letter
Dotted notes and ties holding the sound
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 166
Raindrops
Even eighths and reading F sharp
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 167
Footsteps on the grass
Bass and answering chords, with the melody on top
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 168
Waltz of a leaf
Light 3/4 accompaniment and a melody with direction
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 169
The lake at dawn
An Alberti pattern under a long melody
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 170
The porch lamp
Off-beat right-hand chords and an inner pulse
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 171
Song of return
G7/B resolving to C; pedal changes after the note
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 172
A peaceful day
Combining accompaniment styles into one piece
In Peaceful Days · 18 short pieces
Open → - Lesson 173
First Light
Sing a bright melody over a bass that walks on every beat.
Open → - Lesson 174
Letters Never Sent
Tell a sad letter in 6/8: the left hand rolls six eighth notes in every bar.
Open → - Lesson 175
Running Home
Keep a quick, bright pulse: the left hand rolls eight eighth notes in every bar.
Open → - Lesson 176
After the Rain
A dreamy space: long notes in the right hand, a wide left-hand roll from the bass upwards.
Open → - Lesson 177
Beyond the Horizon
A grand melody in 3/4, the left hand rolling six eighth notes in every bar.
Open → - Lesson 178
Quiet Roads
A slow, simple song: the melody enters after a rest, the left hand rolls four quarter notes.
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