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

The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) · sheet music

  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 7
  • Passages 2

Your turn · both hands

 

 

Loading passage…

Preparing your passage…

Claude Debussy, French romantic (1862–1918). The reading release has 2 passages from this piece at level 7; 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 7.

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 The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin).

  1. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 7

How to play The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)

  1. Tempo:Debussy's marking means very calm and sweetly expressive. Choose a tempo that feels unhurried and let the long notes ring instead of pushing ahead.
  2. Right hand:The melody is the star. Play it softly but clearly, shaping each phrase with a slight rise and fall as if you were singing it.
  3. Left hand:The left hand supports with soft chords and low notes. Keep it quieter than the melody and release each chord gently.
  4. Hands together:Balance the hands so the melody is always louder than the harmony. Practice at a very quiet level first, then raise the right hand only.
  5. Pedal:Pedal changes should follow the harmony, not just the barline. Listen for a clear change of color each time, and lift cleanly so the sound does not become muddy.
  6. Dynamics:Most of the piece stays piano or softer. Plan one clear peak in the middle and let everything else stay in the shadow of it.
  7. Reading:Debussy uses unusual chord colors and plenty of accidentals. Before playing, look for notes that fall outside the key signature and mark them.
  8. Practice:Play the melody alone as if you were singing it, then add the left hand very quietly. Hearing the tune as a single breath makes the soft chords easier to place around it.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the melody and the harmony at the same volume. Fix: Practice the accompaniment very softly and bring the melody forward with a little more finger weight.
  • Holding the pedal through changes of harmony so the sound blurs. Fix: Change the pedal with each new chord and listen for clean breaks.
  • Rushing the long notes in the tune. Fix: Count each note's full length silently and let it ring before the next one.

Structure: melody with a climax and a returning coda

A quiet opening melody builds gently to the piece's climax, repeats an octave lower and settles into soft, drone-like passages. A coda then brings back the opening tune one last time, an octave higher, before the drone figure closes the piece.

A · Opening melody (G-flat major)
A calm, pentatonic tune that moves partly by step and partly by leap. The reading challenge is lining up the melody with a soft chordal bed.
B · Climax and settling
The melody rises to the piece's high point, then repeats an octave lower and gives way to very quiet drone-like chords. Watch the accidentals and keep the peak gentle.
Coda · Return an octave higher (G-flat major)
The opening theme returns one last time, an octave higher, followed by the drone-like figure as the piece fades out.

About The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)

Debussy wrote the first book of Préludes between late 1909 and early 1910, finishing this piece in mid-January 1910. The book was published in April 1910. Franz Liebich gave the first performance of this prelude in London on 2 June 1910, and Ricardo Viñes played it in Paris on 14 January 1911.

The title comes from a poem by Leconte de Lisle, one of his Chansons écossaises in the 1852 collection Poèmes antiques. Debussy had earlier written a song of the same name in the early 1880s, but the prelude is only a distant relative of it. In the original editions of the Préludes, the titles were printed at the end of each piece, so the player meets the music before the name.

The tune draws on pentatonic scales, which gives it a simple, folk-like sound. It is a short piece of about two and a half minutes, and it is one of Debussy's most recorded works, helped by its memorable melody. The violinist Arthur Hartmann, a close friend of Debussy, arranged it for violin and piano.

  • In the original editions of the Préludes, Debussy placed the titles at the end of each piece, not at the beginning.
  • It is said to use more plagal leading tones than any other piece Debussy wrote.
  • Arthur Hartmann, a close friend of Debussy, made a violin and piano transcription that was released in May 1910.
  • Debussy's earlier song of the same name, from 1882 to 1884, was dedicated to Marie-Blanche Vasnier.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because it carries accidentals outside the key, it has syncopated rhythms, it runs fast figuration.

Both passages on this page sit at the same reading level, with many accidentals and soft chordal textures. Read for color: notes outside the key are part of the sound, not mistakes.

Questions about The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)

How hard is The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) to play?
Its passages grade from level 7 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 7.
Is there an easy part of The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because it carries accidentals outside the key and it has syncopated rhythms.
What key and time signature is The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)?
Claude Debussy, French romantic (1862–1918). Debussy wrote the first book of Préludes between late 1909 and early 1910, finishing this piece in mid-January 1910.
Can I practice The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 2 graded passages from The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What poem is La fille aux cheveux de lin based on?
The title comes from a poem by Leconte de Lisle, one of his Chansons écossaises, published in the 1852 collection Poèmes antiques.
How long is La fille aux cheveux de lin?
The prelude is short and takes about two and a half minutes to play.
When did Debussy write the Préludes?
He composed the first book between late 1909 and early 1910, and it was published in April 1910.
Is La fille aux cheveux de lin in the public domain?
Debussy died in 1918, so the original is in the public domain in many places, although modern editions may have their own rights. The engraving on this page comes from a source marked public domain.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 2 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–8 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.

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