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For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1

Béla Bartók (1881–1945) · sheet music

  • Time 2/4
  • Levels 3–8
  • Passages 22

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Béla Bartók, Hungarian modern (1881–1945). The reading release has 22 passages from this piece at levels 3–8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–24 at level 8.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 1–8 level 3
  2. Left hand alone · bars 5–8 level 3
  3. Hands together · bars 5–8 level 4
  4. The hardest bars · bars 1–24 level 8

How to play For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1

  1. Tempo:Allegro, but keep it dance-like rather than fast. A steady two-beat feel is easier to hold than a rushed one, so set the pulse before the first note.
  2. Right hand:The tune sits near the middle of the keyboard with repeated notes. Shape each phrase with a small lift before a new one starts.
  3. Left hand:The left hand is a plain pattern of small intervals. Keep it quiet so the tune sings above it.
  4. Hands together:Learn the right hand until you can sing the tune, then add the left hand one phrase at a time. Stop at each phrase end to listen before continuing.
  5. Reading:There is no key signature, so every B-flat is written in the music as an accidental. Mark each one in pencil before you play.
  6. Practice:Play the first phrase five times in a row at a slow tempo, then move on. Because the tune comes back, accurate first phrases pay off later.
  7. Dynamics:Give each return of the tune its own character, a little warmer or a little lighter, so the repeats tell a story.

Common mistakes

  • Playing each B-flat as B natural because no flat appears in the key signature. Fix: Circle each flat in the music before playing, and say 'B-flat' when you reach it.
  • Clipping the repeated notes in the tune so they sound abrupt. Fix: Pivot slightly between fingers, shape the repeated notes in a small arc and keep the sound connected.
  • Letting the left hand speak louder than the melody. Fix: Play the left hand at about half the volume of the right until the balance is automatic.

Structure: strophic folk-tune setting

The piece is built from a short folk melody that returns several times. The tune stays recognizable while the harmonies under it change, so you read each return as a variation on something you already know.

Verse 1 · First statement (F major)
The tune enters in the right hand with a rising scale-like opening and a leaning, speech-like rhythm. The left hand adds a plain two-note pattern.
Verse 2 · Repeat
The same melody returns with different harmonies underneath. Notice what stays and what moves in the left hand.
Verse 3 · Third statement
A third pass through the same melody. The tune should feel familiar by now, so most of your reading attention goes to the accompaniment.

About For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1

For Children is a collection of short piano pieces Bartók wrote in 1908 and 1909, each built on a folk tune. The first edition appeared in four volumes with 85 pieces: the first two volumes use Hungarian tunes, the last two use Slovak tunes.

In 1945 Bartók revised the set, dropping six pieces and regrouping the remaining 79 into two volumes of 40 and 39, published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1947. This piece, titled All the Girls Will Marry in the original third (Slovak) volume, became the first piece of the new second volume.

The pieces were written for young players, so each one stays small, with a clear tune and a simple accompaniment. That makes the set a friendly place to meet Bartók's harmony without a thicket of notes.

  • The original volumes printed the words of the folk songs at the end of each book, with translations for the Slovak songs.
  • The revision merged four volumes into two, so the old third volume became the new second volume and this piece moved from Volume 3 to Volume 2.
  • The original edition held 85 pieces; the 1945 revision cut it to 79.

Why the first passage is level 3

That passage is level 3 rather than 2 because it carries accidentals outside the key.

No key signature is printed, yet the tune is in F major, so B-flats arrive as accidentals. The phrases repeat with small variations.

Questions about For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1

How hard is For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1 to play?
Its passages grade from level 3 to level 8 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–24 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 1–8 for the right hand alone, the level-3 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 3 because it carries accidentals outside the key.
What key and time signature is For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1 in?
The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.
Who composed For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1?
Béla Bartók, Hungarian modern (1881–1945). For Children is a collection of short piano pieces Bartók wrote in 1908 and 1909, each built on a folk tune.
Can I practice For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 22 graded passages from For Children, Vol. 2 No. 1 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What does All the Girls Will Marry refer to?
It is the title this piece carried in the original Slovak volume of For Children. It is built on a folk tune, as are all pieces in the cycle.
Why is it Volume 2 on this page but Volume 3 elsewhere?
Bartók revised the collection in 1945 and regrouped it into two volumes, so the original third volume became the revised second volume.
Is For Children suitable for beginners?
The pieces were written for young players and range from very easy to moderate. This one is short and built on a single repeating tune, which makes it one of the gentler entries.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 22 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 3
bars 1–8 right hand · bars 5–8 left hand · bars 5–8 right hand · bars 9–12 right hand · bars 9–16 right hand · bars 13–16 right hand · bars 17–20 left hand · bars 17–20 right hand · bars 17–24 right hand · bars 21–24 right hand
Level 4
bars 5–8 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands
Level 5
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–12 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands
Level 7
bars 5–20 both hands
Level 8
bars 1–24 both hands · bars 17–24 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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