Gavotte (Terpsichore)
Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) · sheet music
- Time 4/4
- Levels 1–3
- Passages 5
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Michael Praetorius, German classical (1571–1621). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at levels 1–3; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 5–6 for the right hand alone.
The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 3.
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 Gavotte (Terpsichore).
- Right hand alone · bars 5–6 level 1
- The hardest bars · bars 1–8 level 3
How to play Gavotte (Terpsichore)
- Tempo:Choose a moderate, dancing pace that you can keep from the first note to the last, feeling two strong beats in each bar of four quarters.
- Right hand:Most notes move by step, so keep the hand in one position for the opening phrase and shift only when the line climbs in the second phrase.
- Rhythm:In the dotted figure, hold the dotted quarter for its full length and make the following eighth short and light, like a small hop.
- Hands together:The page gives only the melody; once it is secure, try adding a left-hand G on each strong beat of the first phrase to feel the dance pulse in both hands.
- Reading:The one sharp is F sharp; it appears in the second phrase's quick pair of eighths, so spot it before you start.
- Practice:Learn each four-bar phrase separately, then play the whole tune twice, the second time a little softer, as dance musicians often varied a repeat.
Common mistakes
- Playing the dotted quarter and eighth as two equal notes. Fix: Count in eighths and let the dotted note last three of them.
- Slowing down on the long notes at the end of each phrase. Fix: Keep counting through the half notes so the next phrase starts on time.
- Pressing every note with the same weight, which makes the dance sound like a march. Fix: Lean slightly on the first and third beats and lighten the others.
Structure: two four-bar phrases
The version on this page is a single eight-bar melody made of two short phrases. The first circles around the home note G and settles back on it; the second climbs higher and comes to rest on D, ready to go round again.
- A · First phrase
- Stepwise quarter notes with one dotted figure, staying close to G. A good place to set a steady, walking beat.
- B · Second phrase
- The tune rises through the scale to a higher range, adds a pair of quick eighths with an F sharp, and pauses on long notes.
About Gavotte (Terpsichore)
Terpsichore is a collection of more than 300 instrumental dances that Michael Praetorius published in 1612, named after the Greek muse of dance. In his introduction Praetorius presents himself as the arranger of the music rather than the composer of the tunes, most of which come from the French dance repertoire of the day.
The gavotte is a French dance, usually in 4/4 or 2/2 at a moderate speed. In its early form the music began on the first beat of the bar, as this tune does; later court gavottes started halfway through the bar.
Praetorius was a German composer, organist and theorist who became music director at the Wolfenbüttel court in 1604. Terpsichore is now his most widely known and recorded work, and because it names no instruments, its dances turn up on strings, winds, recorders and keyboard.
- Praetorius's treatise Syntagma Musicum, published in volumes between 1614 and 1620, is a key record of the instruments of his time.
- The familiar harmonization of the Christmas chorale Es ist ein Ros entsprungen is by Praetorius.
- Two other Terpsichore dances, a courante and a bourrée arranged by David Munrow, were used in the 1971 film The Devils.
Why the first passage is level 1
That passage is level 1, the first rung: it moves by whole steps or less, in quarter-note values, in one hand.
A simple, square dance tune. Read it in two four-bar phrases and keep a steady duple beat.
Questions about Gavotte (Terpsichore)
- How hard is Gavotte (Terpsichore) to play?
- Its passages grade from level 1 to level 3 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 3.
- Is there an easy part of Gavotte (Terpsichore) for beginners?
- Yes. Start with bars 5–6 for the right hand alone, the level-1 passage in the reader at the top of this page.
- What key and time signature is Gavotte (Terpsichore) in?
- The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
- Who composed Gavotte (Terpsichore)?
- Michael Praetorius, German classical (1571–1621). Terpsichore is a collection of more than 300 instrumental dances that Michael Praetorius published in 1612, named after the Greek muse of dance.
- Can I practice Gavotte (Terpsichore) online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from Gavotte (Terpsichore) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What is Terpsichore?
- Michael Praetorius's 1612 collection of more than 300 instrumental dances, named for the Greek muse of dance.
- Did Praetorius compose this Gavotte?
- He described his role in Terpsichore as arranging the music rather than composing the tunes, which came largely from French dance repertoire.
- What is a gavotte?
- A French dance usually in 4/4 or 2/2 at a moderate speed; it later became a common movement in Baroque suites.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades 5 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 1
- bars 5–6 right hand
- Level 2
- bars 7–8 right hand
- Level 3
- bars 1–8 right hand · bars 1–4 right hand · bars 5–8 right hand
More pieces to sight-read
Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.