The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 3

Cornelius Gurlitt (1,820–1,901)

Key: C major
Style: Studies
Level: Foundation
Roughly: RCM Prep A–B · ABRSM Initial · Trinity Initial
Lesson: F.5 Steps, skips and three beats
Musicianship: F.5 Three beats
Focus: Three-quarter metre and sustained ties while the other hand moves

What its lesson teaches

F.5 Steps, skips and three beats

Study Gurlitt Op. 117 No. 3 in C. Count three quarter-note beats and read its lines, which move by step. Hold the dotted-half bass for all three beats and keep it sounding across a tie; read the ties-and-dots card before playing. Three Steps, the original alternative, adds skips to the steps in the same C position and three-beat bar.

Ideas: Steps and skips
Melodic contour
Time signatures: simple time
Ties and dots
Dynamics
Theory cards: Steps and skips
Loud and soft
Ties and dots
Technique: C major five-finger pattern, hands separately

Edition and licence

Score: Musalea, from a public-domain edition · public domain

The First Lessons, Op.117 No.3

Edition: G. Schirmer, New York, 1895: The First Lessons / Die Anfangs-Stunden, Op. 117 (identified from IMSLP's listing)

Published: 1895

Source: https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/400775 (IMSLP #400775, G. Schirmer, New York, 1895)

Public-domain source edition(s).

Checked bar by bar against IMSLP #400775 (G. Schirmer, New York, 1895), 2026-10-28: every bar compared; 2 bars corrected.

Adapted by Musalea: corrected from the print, converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Foundation

Home Light, written for the Method
Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Op. 101 No. 10 — Kinderlied (Child’s Song), Ferdinand Beyer
Study in C major, Op. 190 No. 1, Louis Köhler
Aller Anfang ist schwer (Every Beginning Is Difficult), Handstücke I No. 1, Daniel Gottlob Türk
The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 4, Cornelius Gurlitt
Raindrops and Ribbons, written for the Method
Study in C major, Op. 190 No. 2, Louis Köhler
Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Op. 101 No. 11 — Der Kuckuck (The Cuckoo), Ferdinand Beyer
The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 1, Cornelius Gurlitt
A Second Voice, written for the Method
Three Steps, written for the Method
Long Shadows, written for the Method

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