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March in D Minor

Carl Czerny (1791–1857) · sheet music

  • Key D minor
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 6–9
  • Passages 7

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). The reading release has 7 passages from this piece at levels 6–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 9.

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 March in D Minor.

  1. Left hand alone · bars 1–4 level 6
  2. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 6
  3. The hardest bars · bars 1–8 level 9

How to play March in D Minor

  1. Tempo:Pick a steady marching pace first; the sixteenths must fit inside that pace, so slow down the pulse until they sound clean.
  2. Right hand:Play the dotted figures with a clear short second note, keeping the fingers close to the keys for the quick scale figures.
  3. Left hand:The left hand carries the march's chords, so aim for a firm, even sound and prepare each chord shape before the beat.
  4. Hands together:Have both hands strike together on the main beats of the march and let the quick right-hand notes fall between them.
  5. Rhythm:Say 'one-and-a-two-and' to lock in the dotted rhythm, and check that the short note is not rushed.
  6. Reading:The D minor signature carries a B flat, and C sharps and other raised notes appear as accidentals; mark them before you play.
  7. Practice:Learn each phrase hands separately at half speed, then together, and add the metronome when both hands know the notes.

Common mistakes

  • Letting the dotted rhythm relax into even notes. Fix: Count in sixteenths and practice the pattern on a single repeated key before playing the tune.
  • Playing the left-hand chords too loudly. Fix: Keep them firm but a step softer than the right-hand tune.
  • Missing the B flat in the key signature. Fix: Play a D minor scale before each practice session to set the key in your hands.
  • Rushing the quick figures after the opening. Fix: Play them at half speed within the march pulse until their fingering is secure.

Structure: march

A march in common time: short, strongly marked phrases over a steady pulse, with dotted rhythms giving it a military swagger. A middle passage over a chromatic bass line leads to quicker sixteenth-note figures before the close.

Opening · March theme (D minor)
A firm, dotted-rhythm tune supported by left-hand chords sets the tone; the main task is keeping the rhythm crisp and the chords together.
Continuation · Faster figures
Quick sixteenth-note scale figures and wider hand shifts join the march rhythm, so notes above and below the staff appear more often.

About March in D Minor

Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was a Vienna-born pianist and teacher who became Beethoven's pupil in 1801 and later taught the young Liszt. He wrote more than a thousand works, up to Op. 861, and is best remembered for his studies.

IMSLP lists this march for solo piano without an opus number or publication date; its typeset edition in the Werner Icking collection was prepared by Jürgen Knuth.

Much of the march closely follows an exercise from Czerny's Practical Method for Beginners, Op. 599 (No. 51 in the edition scanned on IMSLP), recast from D major into D minor; an IMSLP note points out the same link for the opening.

  • Beethoven chose Czerny as the pianist for the 1806 premiere of his First Piano Concerto, and Czerny gave the Vienna premiere of the Emperor Concerto in 1812.
  • His opus numbers run as high as Op. 861.
  • IMSLP lists arrangements of this march for string quartet (Michel Rondeau, 2012) and for bassoon and piano (Jan Bolek, 2018).
  • Czerny was so impressed by the young Franz Liszt that he taught him free of charge.

Why the first passage is level 6

That passage is level 6 rather than 5 because a hand plays full chords, its chords go beyond simple triads.

Look at the rhythm before the pitches: the dotted figures and sixteenth groups make most of the pattern. The left-hand chords repeat a small number of shapes, so name them by sound.

Questions about March in D Minor

How hard is March in D Minor to play?
Its passages grade from level 6 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of March in D Minor for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 6, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for the left hand alone, the level-6 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 6 because a hand plays full chords and its chords go beyond simple triads.
What key and time signature is March in D Minor in?
March in D Minor is in D minor, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed March in D Minor?
Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was a Vienna-born pianist and teacher who became Beethoven's pupil in 1801 and later taught the young Liszt.
Can I practice March in D Minor online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 7 graded passages from March in D Minor in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Does this march have an opus number?
Not that we could find: IMSLP lists it without an opus number or publication date.
What is Czerny's Op. 599?
It is his Practical Method for Beginners, 100 exercises in all; IMSLP says it first appeared in Paris in 1839 with 75 exercises, followed by a Vienna edition in 1840.
Is Czerny's March in D minor in the public domain?
Czerny died in 1857, so the composition itself is in the public domain, though a modern typeset edition may have its own license.

Every passage, easiest first

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

Level 6
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–4 left hand
Level 9
bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 13–16 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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