Level 12 of 36 · Book II: Hands together
Sight-reading exercises in 3/4 time (waltz time)
Waltz time: three beats in a bar instead of four. The time signature 3/4 brings a new note, the dotted half note, which lasts the whole bar.
- Hands together
- C major
- 3/4 time
- = 60 to start
8 different exercises, each 8 bars. Listen first, or play it yourself: the music waits for each note.
What level 12 adds
The left hand holds a dotted half note each bar, three beats long. The right hand plays dotted halves, halves and quarters, by step and skip, in C position. Every bar adds up to three beats.
What to watch for
- The dotted half: a dot adds half the note’s length again, so a half note (two beats) becomes three.
- Habit from 4/4: it is easy to hold a note for a fourth beat. Count “one, two, three”.
- The strong first beat: in 3/4 the first beat of each bar leads, and the other two are lighter.
How to practise it
- Count “one, two, three” out loud through the first exercise.
- Feel the bar as one long swing: a stronger “one” and two lighter beats.
- Listen to one exercise first: the three-beat pulse is easier to hear than to explain.
Each exercise is new music, written for this level by the same generator the app uses, so you can’t have learned it by ear. Read it once before you play, keep a steady beat, and play on through mistakes. Play it yourself checks your notes from a MIDI keyboard, the mouse or your computer keys, and Print gives you the music alone, to read at the piano.
A new piece every day, at your level
Pianomi is the app these exercises come from. It listens to your MIDI keyboard, grades every note and every beat, and moves you up the 36 levels as your reading improves. It’s free.