Levels Pieces Technique Reading Musicianship Glossary
Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4
Frédéric Chopin (1,810–1,849)
Key A minor
Style Romantic
Roughly RCM 10 · ABRSM after Grade 8 · Trinity after Grade 8 · Henle 6
Focus mazurka rhythm (2nd/3rd-beat accent), rubato, ornaments
What its lesson teaches
Study Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4. Its opening bars float before A minor is confirmed, and its middle section turns to A major (bar 61): a model for a prelude that sets up a key and then changes its colour. The card on quartal voicings and upper-structure triads belongs to jazz harmony; this mazurka has neither. At the keyboard: improvise a prelude in the piece’s key.
Technique A harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves A melodic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
The other lesson pieces of Level 10
Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1 Clair de lune, L. 75 No. 3 Fugue in F major, BWV 856 Sonata in C major, K. 309: I. Allegro con spirito Concert Boogie Etude Prelude in A-flat major, BWV 862 Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1: IV. Prestissimo Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1: III. Menuetto: Allegretto Prelude in A-flat major, Op. 28 No. 17 Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, L. 113 No. 1
Previous piece Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1: III. Menuetto: AllegrettoThe repertoire of Level 10
Next piece Prelude in A-flat major, Op. 28 No. 17
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