Sight Reading Practice

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Minuet in G

Christian Petzold (formerly attributed to J. S. Bach), c. 1725. Complete melody, written out for reading practice.

Music
Christian Petzold (formerly attributed to J. S. Bach)
Date
c. 1725
Key
G major
Time
3/4
Clef
Treble
Level
Easy
Length
Complete melody
Practice this piece

About the music

This minuet appears in the notebook Johann Sebastian Bach compiled for his wife, Anna Magdalena, in 1725, and for two centuries it was known as “Bach’s Minuet in G”. Scholars now credit it to the Dresden organist Christian Petzold. It is still one of the first real pieces most piano students learn.

A minuet is a dance in three, and this one has a clear pattern: a quarter note followed by four running eighths, then three quarter notes. This is the complete first section, sixteen bars, in G major.

Reading tips

How to practice it

Read the piece through once without playing, naming the starting note and looking for patterns and repeats. Then press Play and follow the notes as they light up. When you are ready, choose Practice this piece: it opens in the practice tool, where you can slow it down, play along on the on-screen piano, a MIDI keyboard or your voice, and have every note checked.

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