Practical Method for Beginners, Op. 599 No. 15

2.8 Fit three notes into a beat

Study the first four bars of Czerny’s Op. 599 No. 15 in C: right-hand triplets lead to longer notes at the cadence, while the left hand holds the bass and answers with quarter-note chords. Count “one-and-a, two-and-a” and keep each triplet even, then compare a triplet with two even notes per beat at the keyboard. In the right hand of bars 5–8 of Mozart’s Minuet in F, K. 2, compare ordinary eighths with the triplet in bar 7 without changing the pulse.

Ideas

• Triplets
• Hand independence

Theory cards

• Triplets
• Hand independence

Technique

• C major scale, hands separately, 2 octaves
• C major solid triad and inversions, hands separately, 1 octave