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School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3

Carl Czerny (1791–1857) · sheet music

  • Key C major
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 2–9
  • Passages 5

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at levels 2–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 15–16 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 13–20 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. 3.

  1. Left hand alone · bars 15–16 level 2
  2. Hands together · bars 15–18 level 7
  3. The hardest bars · bars 13–20 level 9

How to play School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3

  1. Tempo:Presto is very fast, but begin at a quarter of that speed. Raise the metronome two clicks at a time only when every note sounds the same.
  2. Left hand:Start with the left-hand passage on its own, since it is the easiest and shows the shape. Keep the fingers curved and relaxed.
  3. Right hand:Pass the thumb under smoothly without twisting the wrist. Keep the finger action small and close to the keys.
  4. Hands together:Join the hands slowly, listening for even sound between them. If one hand is louder, lower it until they match.
  5. Rhythm:Practice in rhythms (long-short, short-long) and in groups of four to lock in evenness. Then go back to straight notes.
  6. Reading:There are no sharps or flats, so read the figures as chord shapes: name the chord of each beat before you play it, and look ahead to where the hand has to jump to the next position.
  7. Practice:Work up the ladder one passage at a time, from the left-hand line to the longest passage. Keep the sessions short, and stop if your forearms tighten.

Common mistakes

  • Starting at a fast tempo and building in errors. Fix: Begin slowly and increase the metronome in small steps.
  • Letting the thumb bump on the crossing. Fix: Practice the thumb passage alone with a quiet, rolling hand.
  • Playing with tension in the shoulders. Fix: Pause between runs and shake out the arms.
  • Skipping the easy passages. Fix: Use the left-hand line to learn the shape before you add speed.

Structure: single-pattern étude

Like most studies in the set, No. 3 takes one kind of fast figure, here broken chords and arpeggios in sixteenth notes, and keeps it running through a chain of harmonies around C major. The texture changes more than the figure: sometimes the right hand runs over a slow bass, sometimes both hands run together.

A · Right-hand broken chords (C major)
The right hand spins broken chords in sixteenths over a slow left-hand bass line in half notes. The bass is easy; the challenge is a steady, even right hand.
B · Both hands running
The left hand takes up its own rising arpeggio in sixteenths while the right hand falls from a high C, so the hands move in contrary motion at full speed.
C · Walking bass
Broken C major chords in the right hand sit over a walking quarter-note bass that heads toward the dominant, G. Keep the sixteenths even as the bass moves.

About School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3

Czerny's School of Velocity, Op. 299, is a set of forty studies whose German subtitle promises exercises to develop the speed of the fingers. The first thirty were published in 1833 or earlier by Schlesinger in Paris and Diabelli in Vienna, and the last ten followed from Diabelli in 1838.

Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven and later the teacher of Liszt, wrote well over a thousand works, and his studies are still a staple of piano teaching. No. 3 is marked Presto and, like every study in the first book except the last, is in C major. Its material is broken chords and arpeggios in running sixteenth notes, passed between the hands.

Studies like this one are meant to be played often and in small doses. The graded passages on this page let you build up to the full speed in stages instead of attacking the whole thing at once.

  • Nos. 1, 3, and 4 of the School of Velocity are marked Presto, while No. 2 and the rest of the first book are Molto allegro.
  • The first nine studies of Op. 299 are all in C major; the tenth moves to F major.
  • The set was issued in two stages, with the last ten studies appearing five years after the first thirty.
  • Czerny studied with Beethoven, who accepted him as a pupil when he was about ten.

Why the first passage is level 2

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

Five graded passages here run from level 2, a left-hand line, to level 9, in 4/4 with no sharps or flats. Use the lower levels to learn the shape before the full passages.

Questions about School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3

How hard is School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 to play?
Its passages grade from level 2 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 13–20 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 15–16 for the left 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 School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 in?
School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 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. 3?
Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). Czerny's School of Velocity, Op.
Can I practice School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Where does No. 3 fall in Op. 299?
It is the third of forty studies, grouped in four books of ten, so it sits near the start of Book 1. The first thirty came out by 1833 and the last ten in 1838.
What tempo is Presto?
Presto means very fast. For a study like this one, start slowly, and let the speed build over weeks of practice.
Why does the page start with a left-hand passage?
The graded ladder begins with an easier left-hand line so you can learn the shape of the figure before the hands play it together at full speed.

Every passage, easiest first

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

Level 2
bars 15–16 left hand
Level 7
bars 15–18 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands
Level 8
bars 13–16 both hands
Level 9
bars 13–20 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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