Minuet in G major

One-two-three

This is the opening of the Minuet in G major, bars 1–4, with both hands. Press “Listen” and tap a finger on the table on every beat.

A dance: three beats in every bar, and the first heavier than the others.

Tapping in four will not work here: the bar is shorter. After the treble clef, on the top line, there is a sign that looks like a hash, and it holds for the whole piece. The eighth notes run four in a row. The right hand starts on D5 with the little finger, in bar 3 goes beyond its five keys, and in bar 4 jumps an octave down.

By the end of the lesson you will play the first half of the Minuet with both hands, sixteen bars with a repeat. The lesson builds on lesson 2: the bass clef, two staves at once, rests and the repeat sign. If you have not done it, start there.

A bar in three

The Minuet is in 3/4 time: three beats to the bar, each a quarter note long. Count “one, two, three” and “one” again. The first beat of the bar, “one”, is the downbeat, or strong beat: the weight falls on it, and the other two are light. Heavy, light, light: that is how a minuet steps, and that is how it is played. Listen to two bars in three: one-two-three, one-two-three.

Three quarter notes, then a dotted half note for the whole bar.

The dotted half note appears here for the first time. The dot, as you remember from the Ode, adds half the note's length: a half note lasts two beats, half of that is one, three in all. That is a whole bar in 3/4. The right hand has such notes in bars 8 and 16, the left hand in seven bars out of sixteen.

And what happens if you count such a bar in four out of habit, like the Ode and the Melody?

Bars 1–4 with both hands, the count under the notes. The loud click sounds on “one” of whichever count is chosen.

The notes do not change, but the dance breaks: the heavy beat slides off the start of the bar, and each bar sounds crooked in its own way. The time signature says how many beats a bar has and also where its weight falls.

All the rhythms of the Minuet, right hand and left. Tap each one after the count-in, counting aloud in three.

Eighth notes: two to a beat

In bar 1, after D come four short notes: G, A, B, C. These are eighth notes, each half a beat long. A single eighth note is written with a flag on its stem, like the D in bar 4 of the Ode. Two or more in a row are joined by a bar, the beam: that makes it easier to see how many fall on a beat. In the Minuet a beam joins four eighth notes, exactly two beats.

The count is the same as in lessons 1 and 2, only in three: “one-and-two-and-three-and”. In bar 1, D sounds on “one” and is held through “and”, G on “two”, A on “and”, B on “three”, C on the last “and”. The eighth notes must be even, like steps of one length. If they hurry, say the “and” louder than the numbers.

The first two bars: the little finger on D, the thumb on G, the eighth notes with fingers 1, 2, 3, 4. Any tempo.

The left hand of the Minuet has no eighth notes: it plays half notes, quarter notes and dotted half notes.

An F♯ by the clef

Play G on the keys, then the next key to its left, a black one, and G again. Or listen: G, F♯, G. There are no other keys between G and that black key: this is a semitone, the smallest step on the keyboard. E to F and B to C are semitones too: there the neighbouring white keys have no black key between them.

The black key to the right of F is called F sharp, F♯. A sharp, the sign ♯ that looks like a hash, raises a note by a semitone: to the next key to the right. F♯ is written in the same place on the staff as F, only with a sharp.

In the Minuet the sharp stands at the start of every line, right after the clef, on the F line: the top line in the treble clef, the fourth in the bass clef. This is the key signature: it applies to every note of that name, in every octave, until the end of the piece. The sharp on the top line of the treble staff marks F5, but F4, lower on the staff, is sharp as well. There are no signs before the notes themselves: you remember them from the clef.

F comes up five times in the Minuet, and every time it is F♯: in the right hand F5 in bars 3 and 11 and F4 in bars 7 and 15, in the left hand F3 in bar 13. The piece is called “in G major”, and that is no accident: in G major F always has a sharp. What major and minor are comes in lesson 4.

The right hand of bars 1–4 with the key signature and without it. Compare by ear bar 3 and the step into bar 4.

A forgotten sharp is a common mistake in reading pieces like this one. You hear it at once: the last step to G becomes twice as wide, and the tune loses its pull. Before you play, look at the clef and say aloud: “F is sharp.”

A note appears on a staff with F♯ by the clef. Play it in the right octave; F on the black key.

In bar 7 the right hand starts on a note in the bottom space of the staff, with no sign before it. Which key do you press?

The white F: nothing is written before the note The black one, F♯4 G: a sharp raises a note to the next white key

The bottom space holds F4, and the sharp by the clef applies to every F until the end of the piece. So you press the black key to the right of F. A sharp raises a note by a semitone, to the nearest key, and for F that is the black key, not G.

The G position and the C position

The right hand in the Minuet sits in two places. Nearly all the time it is in the G position: the thumb on G4, the little finger on D5. In bars 3–4 and 11–12 the tune climbs above D, and the hand moves to the C position: the thumb on C5, the little finger on G5. F♯ is under finger 4 here, and the finger lies on the black key a little further in, closer to the panel.

The G position: the thumb on G4, the little finger on D5. The C position: the thumb on C5, finger 4 on F♯, the little finger on G.

A move like this is a shift of position. The finger numbers hint at it. In bar 3 there is a 3 over E: in the G position E is not under the hand, but in the C position it is exactly finger 3. The hand moves between bars 2 and 3: the thumb goes from G4 to C5, three white keys higher. Then C with finger 1, D, E, F♯ with fingers 2, 3, 4, and G5 with the little finger in bar 4. Straight after it comes a 1 over G4: the hand jumps an octave down, back to the G position.

The jump in bar 4 is the hardest place in the first phrase. Prepare it in advance: while G5 is sounding, your eyes are already down on G4. The hand travels in one movement, above the keys, without dragging across them. Slowly at first, with a stop before the jump; you will take the stop out later.

The whole first phrase: two positions and a jump. The finger numbers are in bars 1, 3 and 4.

A finger over the thumb

In bar 7 the tune goes down below G, to F♯4, and then climbs again: G, A, B. There is no need to move the whole hand for one note. The thumb stays on G, and finger 2 crosses over it to F♯, the black key to the left. Then the thumb takes G, and finger 2 goes back to its place, on A.

This is passing the thumb under, here in its other direction. It is one movement seen from two sides: going up, the thumb passes under the palm to the next key; going down, another finger crosses over the thumb. That is how the hand covers the whole keyboard in scales without a single jump. The Minuet needs this move twice: in bar 7 and at the end of bar 15, where F♯ with finger 2 leads to the last G.

Finger 2 crosses over the thumb to F♯; the thumb stays on G.

The wrist does not turn or rise while this happens. The thumb is the pivot: finger 2 passes close over it, almost touching. Crossing onto a black key is comfortable: it is higher than the white keys and closer to the finger.

Bars 6–8: in bar 7, F♯ with finger 2 over the thumb, then G with finger 1, A with finger 2. The last A lasts the whole bar.

The left hand: higher in the bass clef

The left hand in the Minuet sits higher than in the Melody: from F♯3 to D4. The bass staff has to be extended upwards. On the fourth line, between the clef's dots, is F, here F♯ from the key signature. Above it:

• G (G3) in the top space;
• A (A3) on the top, fifth line;
• B (B3) above the staff, just touching the line;
• middle C (C4) on a ledger line above;
• D (D4) above the ledger line.

Middle C on a ledger line above the bass staff is that same note between the staves from lesson 2: in the treble clef it is written on a ledger line below.

The hand is in the G position, only an octave lower than the right hand: the little finger on G3, the thumb on D4. Once, in bar 13, it shifts one key down so the little finger can reach F♯, and in bar 14 it comes back: the little finger on G again.

The left hand in the G position: the little finger on G3, the thumb on D4.

A note appears on a bass staff with F♯ by the clef. Play it with the left hand in the right octave.

The left hand of the first phrase: a half note and a quarter, then three dotted half notes, a whole bar each.

How many beats does the left hand's B last in bar 2?

Two: it is a half note Three, the whole bar Four: the whole bar, as in the Melody

It is a dotted half note: two beats and half of two more, three in all. In 3/4 time that is exactly the whole bar. There are no four-beat bars in the Minuet.

The harpsichord on the EZ-310

The Minuet was written in the early 18th century, when the piano was a rare novelty, and it was more likely played on a harpsichord. Listen to it as a harpsichord: the EZ-310 has such Voices. 012 “S.Art Lite Harpsichord” and 013 “Harpsichord” are harpsichords; 014 “Octave Harpsichord” is a harpsichord with an added octave.

The harpsichord Voice

Play the Minuet with the harpsichord Voice and listen for whether the volume changes when you press harder. On a real harpsichord it does not, and here is why.

The Minuet on the instrument

With the cable you can put the course's recording of the Minuet onto the EZ-310: both hands, ♩ = 76. The file is loaded and selected just like the Ode in lesson 1: songs from the computer go into the [USER&STORAGE] category, from number 158.

The first half of the Minuet

The easy version is the first half of the Minuet, bars 1–16. After bar 16 there is a repeat sign and, as in the Melody, you go back to the very beginning: the sixteen bars sound twice, thirty-two in all. The second half, bars 17–32, comes in lesson 8; there the hand goes higher and further.

There are plenty of repeats within the half too. Bars 9–14 are bars 1–6 note for note in the right hand; only 15 and 16 are new. The left hand in bars 9–16 is its own: it has a half note and a quarter more often than a dotted half.

Bars 1–4, right hand. Two moves: to the C position before bar 3, and the jump down in bar 4. F♯ with finger 4.

The same bars with the left hand: G, A, B, C, B. Count in three and hold the dotted half notes to the end of the bar.

Bars 5–8, right hand. The G position for the whole phrase. In bar 7, finger 2 over the thumb to F♯; in bar 8, A with finger 2 for the whole bar.

Bars 9–16. The right hand in bars 9–14 repeats 1–6, but the left has notes of its own, so it goes first on its own. In bar 13 the left hand shifts one key down: A with finger 3, F♯ with the little finger. In bar 14 it comes back, the little finger on G again.

Now both hands. In bar 15 the right hand has F♯ with finger 2 over the thumb, leading to the last G.

The whole first half with both hands in “Wait for me”, with the repeat: thirty-two bars.

Now in tempo: bars 1–8 at 75%, which is ♩ = 57. The count-in bar is three clicks. The most dangerous place is the jump in bar 4: in tempo you have one beat for it, while G5 is sounding.

And the last rung: the whole Minuet with both hands in tempo. At 75% it takes a minute and forty seconds. Add 5% each time a run is passed: at least 90% right notes and 75% “on time”. A hundred per cent, ♩ = 76, is the tempo the course's score of the Minuet is written in.

What next

Now you count a bar in three and hear the downbeat, you read eighth notes and dotted half notes, and you remember the F♯ by the clef in every octave. The right hand changes position, jumps an octave and crosses a finger over the thumb. The first half of the Minuet sounds with both hands.

Test yourself at the keys:

• Tap bar 1, counting aloud “one-and-two-and-three-and”, with the “one” heavier.
• Name every F in bars 1–16 and play each one: F♯ five times.
• Bars 6–8 with the right hand: finger 2 over the thumb without turning the wrist.
• Bars 1–8 with both hands “In tempo” at 75%: 90% right notes or more.
• Without the cable: switch the EZ-310 to a harpsichord and play bars 1–4, checking by ear against the “Listen” button at the start of the lesson.

The next wall is Tchaikovsky's Old French Song. Two flats by the clef, the music is in a minor key, there are two beats to the bar, and the first note comes before the first bar.

Two signs by the clef and a note before the first bar. Reading them is for lesson 4.

Minor, flats, slurs and playing loud and soft come in lesson 4.