How hard is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 to play?

Its passages grade from level 2 to level 3 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 3.

Is there an easy part of Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 for beginners?

Yes. Start with bars 1–4 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 major third.

What key and time signature is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 in?

The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.

Who composed Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36?

Ferdinand Beyer, German romantic (1803–1863). No.

Can I practice Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 online for free?

Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 7 graded passages from Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.

Why is the left hand of Beyer No. 36 in the treble clef?

At this stage of the Vorschule both hands are written in the treble clef, with the left hand placed around middle C, so the pupil reads only one clef.

Is Beyer No. 36 hands together?

Yes. The right hand plays quarter-note turns while the left hand holds long notes and plays short broken chords.

Is Beyer's Op. 101 in the public domain?

Yes. Beyer died in 1863, and free scans of the Vorschule are available on IMSLP and other archives.

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Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36

Ferdinand Beyer (1803–1863) · sheet music

Time 4/4
Levels 2–3
Passages 7

Your turn · both hands

Preparing your passage…

Ferdinand Beyer, German romantic (1803–1863). The reading release has 7 passages from this piece at levels 2–3; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 3.

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. 36.

Right hand alone · bars 1–4 level 2
The hardest bars · bars 1–8 level 3

How to play Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36

Tempo:No tempo word is printed for this number, so choose a steady moderate pace in four. The quarters should flow without any bar sounding faster than the others.
Right hand:Rest the right hand on C to G, thumb on C. Each turn like C, E, D, C uses fingers 1, 3, 2, 1, so the skip of a third never needs a hand shift.
Left hand:The left hand holds whole notes and then drops to a broken G chord of B, D, B, G below the staff. Hold the whole notes for all four beats, and play the broken chord smoothly.
Hands together:In most bars the right hand plays four quarters while the left hand holds one note. Play beat one together, then keep the left hand down while the right hand finishes the bar.
Reading:The left hand's notes are in the treble clef, below the staff on ledger lines: B and G under middle C. Name them before you play, since they look higher than they sound.
Practice:Learn the right hand as a set of repeated turns: once you know the first bar, the next two are the same shape a step higher. Then add the left hand bar by bar.

Common mistakes

Letting the left-hand whole notes drop after one or two beats. Fix: Count four beats out loud on each held note while the right hand plays.
Misreading the ledger-line notes below the staff in the left hand. Fix: Find middle C first, then step down: B is just below it and G is two lines further down.
Playing the four-note turns unevenly, with a bump on the skip. Fix: Practice each turn slowly with a metronome until the skip sounds the same as the steps.
Forgetting to repeat the second half. Fix: Circle the repeat signs before starting and play everything between them twice.

Structure: binary with return

Two halves, the second marked to be repeated. The first is an eight-bar phrase that ends on C. The second starts with new material that pauses on long Ds, brings back the opening phrase, and then repeats it once more with the C ending.

A · Opening phrase (C major): Four-note turns climbing from C through D to E over left-hand whole notes, then the same climb again ending on C.
B · New bars (C major): The right hand holds a whole-note D, plays a turn that reaches up to G, and holds D again, while the left hand plays its broken G chord.
A' · Return (C major): The opening turns come back twice, first stopping on D and then closing on C, and this whole section is played twice.

About Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36

No. 36 comes from the stretch of Beyer's Vorschule where the pupil plays alone, with both hands, without the teacher's part that accompanies the earliest numbers. Like its neighbor No. 35, it keeps the right hand on C to G and places the left hand around middle C, so both hands read from the treble clef.

The right hand plays almost nothing but quarter notes, in little four-note turns such as C, E, D, C that rise a step each bar. The left hand mostly holds whole notes, C or B, and every few bars drops through a quick broken G chord below the staff. The result is a first lesson in keeping one hand busy while the other one waits.

Ferdinand Beyer (1806–1863) published the Vorschule with Schott in Mainz in 1850. It has been called a foundation of elementary piano teaching in many countries.

Both hands of No. 36 are written in the treble clef, so the left hand reads its low notes on ledger lines below the staff.
The right hand's opening four-note turn, a skip up a third and two steps down, is repeated a step higher in each of the next bars.
No. 36 uses only white keys, like every number up to No. 69 in the book.

Why the first passage is level 2

That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because it leaps a major third.

The passages on this page are the right-hand part alone. Read each bar as one four-note shape and look for the same shape repeated a step higher in the next bar.

Questions about Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36

How hard is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 to play?: Its passages grade from level 2 to level 3 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 3.
Is there an easy part of Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 for beginners?: Yes. Start with bars 1–4 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 major third.
What key and time signature is Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 in?: The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36?: Ferdinand Beyer, German romantic (1803–1863). No.
Can I practice Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 online for free?: Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 7 graded passages from Preparatory School, Op. 101 No. 36 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why is the left hand of Beyer No. 36 in the treble clef?: At this stage of the Vorschule both hands are written in the treble clef, with the left hand placed around middle C, so the pupil reads only one clef.
Is Beyer No. 36 hands together?: Yes. The right hand plays quarter-note turns while the left hand holds long notes and plays short broken chords.
Is Beyer's Op. 101 in the public domain?: Yes. Beyer died in 1863, and free scans of the Vorschule are available on IMSLP and other archives.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 7 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 2: bars 1–4 right hand
Level 3: bars 1–8 right hand · bars 5–8 right hand · bars 9–12 right hand · bars 9–16 right hand · bars 13–16 right hand · bars 17–20 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.

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