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School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2

Carl Czerny (1791–1857) · sheet music

  • Key C major
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 9
  • Passages 3

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). The reading release has 3 passages from this piece at level 9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–4 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 School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2.

  1. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 9

How to play School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2

  1. Tempo:It is marked Molto allegro, but start at a slow, comfortable speed and speed up in small steps. If the notes stop being even, you have gone too far.
  2. Right hand:At the start the right hand only holds chords, so keep them light and on time above the scales. When it takes over the running figures, keep the fingers close to the keys and the wrist loose.
  3. Left hand:The left hand carries the opening scales, two octaves up and then a long jump back. Practice each scale alone with a thumb under every few notes, and rehearse the jump back as a separate move.
  4. Hands together:Coordinate the hands carefully when they travel at the same time. Play slowly and stop at each landing point to check that both hands arrive together.
  5. Rhythm:The study is in 4/4, with four beats of sixteenth notes per measure. Practice with a metronome and group the sixteenths in fours.
  6. Reading:With no accidentals, the reading challenge is the wide range and the ledger lines. Name the outer notes of each pattern before you play them.
  7. Practice:Use rhythm variations, such as long-short and short-long, to wake up each finger. Keep sessions short and relaxed, because speed built with tension does not last.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the leaps so the fast notes become uneven. Fix: Practice each leap alone, hovering above the next position before landing.
  • Raising the wrist and shoulders as the tempo increases. Fix: Stop, shake out your arms, and restart at a slower tempo.
  • Playing loudly to sound fast. Fix: Aim for an even, light touch at mezzo piano.
  • Practicing only the first few measures and neglecting the rest. Fix: Divide the study into short chunks and rotate through them.

Structure: single-pattern étude

The study keeps one kind of figure, rapid scales in sixteenth notes, running almost without a break and moves it through a chain of harmonies in C major. What changes is which hand carries the scales and what the other hand does against them.

A · Left-hand scales (C major)
The left hand climbs two octaves in sixteenth notes and then leaps back down, under simple repeated chords and two-note dyads in the right hand. Read the left hand by the scale's starting note and range.
B · Both hands running
The right hand joins with its own sixteenth-note figures that turn around a note and then run upward, with an occasional sharp such as C sharp, while the left hand keeps up its scales.

About School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2

Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was a pupil of Beethoven and later the teacher of Franz Liszt, and he wrote well over a thousand works, many of them piano studies. Op. 299, Die Schule der Geläufigkeit, carries the subtitle '40 exercises to develop the speed of the fingers'. It is among his best-known sets.

Studies 1 through 30 were first published in 1833 or earlier by Schlesinger in Paris and Diabelli in Vienna, with Nos. 31 to 40 following in 1838. No. 2 is marked Molto allegro and, like the other studies at the start of the first book, is in C major.

No. 2 opens by giving the running work to the left hand, which races up two-octave C major scales in sixteenth notes while the right hand holds chords above, and then the right hand takes up turning, scale-like figures of its own. The jump back down after each scale is as much of the challenge as the scale itself.

  • The full title of Op. 299 translates as 'The School of Velocity', with the German subtitle 'forty exercises to develop the speed of the fingers'.
  • Czerny began piano at age three and studied with Beethoven from about the age of ten.
  • Czerny taught the young Liszt free of charge from 1819, and Liszt later dedicated his twelve Transcendental Études to him.
  • The French alternative title of Op. 299 speaks of exercises calculated to develop evenness of the fingers.

Why the first passage is level 9

That passage is level 9 rather than 8 because a hand covers more than one position, it leaps a octave plus an octave.

Three graded passages here are all at level 9, in 4/4 with no sharps or flats. The two-octave scales, the leaps back down, and the ledger lines set the level, not the key.

Questions about School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2

How hard is School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 to play?
Its passages grade from 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 1–4 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 9, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for both hands together, the level-9 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 9 because a hand covers more than one position and it leaps a octave plus an octave.
What key and time signature is School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 in?
School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 is in C major, no sharps or flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2?
Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was a pupil of Beethoven and later the teacher of Franz Liszt, and he wrote well over a thousand works, many of them piano studies.
Can I practice School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 3 graded passages from School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 2 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is the School of Velocity?
It is Czerny's Op. 299, a set of forty piano studies meant to build finger speed and evenness. It is published in four books, and No. 2 is the second study in the first book.
What does Molto allegro mean?
It means very fast and lively. For Czerny studies, begin slowly and build up speed gradually.
How should I practice Czerny studies?
Work in short chunks, hands separately, then together, using a metronome and gradually raising the tempo. Keep your wrist loose and avoid forcing speed.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 3 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 9
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 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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