Real Sight Reader
Piano sound
Browser piano

Play your MIDI keyboard through this device’s audio output. Plug headphones into this device and turn down your piano’s own speakers.

← All pieces

Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25

Ferdinand Beyer (1803–1863) · sheet music

  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 2
  • Passages 5

Your turn · both hands

 

 

Loading passage…

Preparing your passage…

Ferdinand Beyer, German romantic (1803–1863). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at level 2; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–4 at level 2.

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 Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 1–4 level 2

How to play Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25

  1. Tempo:No tempo is printed, so choose an easy, singing three, slow enough to hear the left hand's echo arrive.
  2. Right hand:Start with finger 5 on G; the Peters edition prints 5-4-3 for G-F-E and 3-2-1 for E-D-C, walking the hand down to the thumb.
  3. Fingering:Because finger 3 ends one group and starts the next on the same E, release and replay the key rather than holding it.
  4. Left hand:The left-hand part rests at first, then enters with its own G-F-E, printed 1-2-3.
  5. Hands together:The hands imitate rather than accompany, so practice two measures at a time slowly and listen for the figure passing from one hand to the other.
  6. Practice:Play the right hand while tapping the left hand's entry on your knee, then swap: left hand plays, right hand taps.
  7. Reading:Read by direction, down by step, down by step, then up; the second half's start on F is the only surprise.

Common mistakes

  • Holding the E over the bar line instead of playing it again. Fix: Release and replay the E with the same finger.
  • Cutting the dotted half note C short. Fix: Count one-two-three before moving on.
  • Starting the second half on G out of habit. Fix: Find F, one step below the opening note, before you begin.
  • Letting the left hand's echo come in early. Fix: Count the left hand's opening rest aloud.

Structure: rounded binary with imitation (second half repeated)

The tune falls twice in the first half, the second time closing on C. The repeated second half opens with a new figure on F, runs down to C and back up, and then ends with the closing version of the tune.

A · Falling tune
G-F-E, E-D-C, then a turn up through D and E. The repeated E across the bar line is the detail to watch.
A' · Closed version
The same fall returns and ends on a dotted half note C held for a full measure.
B · Turn on F
F-G-F, then the fall to C and the climb back up; in the full piece the hands swap figures here.
A' · Return
The closing version comes back to finish on C.

About Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25

No. 25 is in three-four time, and its right-hand tune starts at the top of the hand, sliding G-F-E and then E-D-C, so the same E ends one group and begins the next. The phrase turns back up through D and E, and its second statement closes on a dotted half note C that fills a whole measure.

What sets the full piece apart is the left hand. It waits through the opening measure and then plays the right hand's G-F-E one measure later, so the two hands imitate each other. Once past the repeat sign, the hands trade figures: while the right hand plays F-G-F and E-D-C, the left hand plays D-E-D and C-D-E, and then each hand takes the other's pair.

Critics cited by PTNA point out that many Beyer exercises give the left hand nothing but accompaniment under a right-hand tune. No. 25 is a welcome exception and a gentle first taste of two independent lines.

  • The Peters edition prints no tempo word for No. 25, and Alfred's modern edition says it supplies editorial tempo marks wherever Beyer gave none.
  • IMSLP lists Italian editions of the book from Ricordi, edited by Ettore Pozzoli in 1918, and from Curci, edited by Giuseppe Piccioli.

Why the first passage is level 2

That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because it leaps a minor third, it is in 3/4, not 4/4, it has dotted rhythms.

Steps almost everywhere, no sharps or flats, three beats to a measure: watch for the same E that ends one group and starts the next.

Questions about Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25

How hard is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25 to play?
Its passages grade from level 2 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–4 at level 2.
Is there an easy part of Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 1–8 for the right hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because it leaps a minor third and it is in 3/4, not 4/4.
What key and time signature is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25 in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25?
Ferdinand Beyer, German romantic (1803–1863). No.
Can I practice Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 25 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
How long does No. 25 take to play?
PTNA lists about 45 seconds.
Are there Italian or Spanish editions of Beyer?
Yes. IMSLP lists Italian editions from Ricordi and Curci and a 1919 Schirmer edition with English and Spanish text.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 5 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 2
bars 1–4 right hand · bars 1–8 right hand · bars 5–8 right hand · bars 9–12 right hand · bars 9–16 right hand

More pieces to sight-read

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

Keep training on your phone Practice with your own pieces — free on the App Store