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

Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16

Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy (1802–1880) · sheet music

  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 5
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

Loading passage…

Preparing your passage…

Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 5; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 21–24 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 21–24 at level 5.

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 Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16.

  1. Hands together · bars 21–24 level 5

How to play Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16

  1. Tempo:Begin slowly enough to play the eighth-note figure without tension, then let the speed rise only as far as the right hand can stay even.
  2. Right hand:Hold the lower note with the thumb for its full length while the upper fingers play the figure close to the keys, so the held note never cuts off early.
  3. Left hand:Play each chord with one clean drop and hold it for its full value, since the chord is the harmony under the figure.
  4. Hands together:Change the left-hand note exactly where the figure begins its new pattern; feel the eighths as a steady clock above a bass that moves only every two or four beats.
  5. Fingering:Pick one fingering for the figure and keep it each time it repeats; reuse across transpositions builds speed faster than inventing new fingers.
  6. Reading:When the figure drops, check the new first note and any sharp before you start the measure rather than after.
  7. Practice:Isolate the right hand with the metronome at a slow tempo, move up two clicks only when it stays even, and add the chords last.

Common mistakes

  • Releasing the long lower note as soon as the figure starts. Fix: Hold that note while tapping the figure rhythm with the other fingers, then add the pitches.
  • Changing the left-hand note late because attention is on the right hand. Fix: Play the left hand alone while counting eighths aloud, then add the figure.
  • Missing the A sharp in the passing figure. Fix: Mark it with a pencil and practice that measure in isolation.
  • Raising the shoulder to get a stronger sound in the figure. Fix: Keep the arm loose and let the fingers carry the sound.

Structure: study in repeating phrases

The study repeats one right-hand figure and moves it through different harmonies, so the interest comes from the changing notes underneath. Near the end the figure steps down in a sequence to close in G major.

Ripple · Figure over held chords (G major)
An eighth-note neighbor-note figure in the right hand plays above a held lower note and over long left-hand notes, so every change underneath marks a fresh start for the figure.
Descent · The figure steps down
The same shape is played lower and lower in a falling sequence and touches a few accidentals, so you must read for the first note of the figure each time.

About Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16

Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy taught at the Paris Conservatoire and wrote more than 300 pieces, many of them teaching collections. The 25 studies of Op. 176 are the best known, aimed at confident beginners who can already read music.

In this number the right hand does two jobs at once: one finger holds a long note while the others ripple through an eighth-note neighbor-note figure above it. The left hand moves slowly in whole and half notes, so attention can go to the evenness of the figure.

The study is in G major, with chromatic touches such as C sharp and A sharp passing through the figure, and it closes with the figure stepping down in a short sequence.

  • In the 1895 Schirmer edition this study is marked Allegretto and opens with the left hand holding whole notes for entire measures.
  • Duvernoy's catalogue is said to run to more than 300 works.
  • Op. 176 appeared in editions from St. Louis, New York, Leipzig and Milan within a century of its first listing.

Why the first passage is level 5

That passage is level 5 rather than 4 because a hand plays several notes at once, a hand plays full chords, it carries accidentals outside the key, a hand covers more than one position, its chords stretch wide, its chords go beyond simple triads.

Read the right hand as one figure and its transpositions, and the left hand as a handful of chord shapes. The score will feel much shorter once you see it as repeats.

Questions about Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16

How hard is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16 to play?
Its passages grade from level 5 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece sits around early intermediate. The hardest stretch is bars 21–24 at level 5.
Is there an easy part of Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 5, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 21–24 for both hands together, the level-5 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 5 because a hand plays several notes at once and a hand plays full chords.
What key and time signature is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16 in?
The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16?
Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy taught at the Paris Conservatoire and wrote more than 300 pieces, many of them teaching collections.
Can I practice Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 16 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why is the French title Ecole primaire?
It means roughly primary school, matching the IMSLP alternative titles that frame the set as elementary instruction for beginners.
Is there an exam grade for Duvernoy Op. 176?
No exam-board grade turned up in the sources checked. Publishers pitch the set at confident beginners who can already read music.
Why practice a study with so little left-hand movement?
The calm left hand leaves room to train the right hand to hold one note while the other fingers stay quick and even.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 5
bars 21–24 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