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A Breeze From Alabama

by Scott Joplin (1868–1917) · Early modern · Advanced

Versions

VersionLevelKeyLength
Advanced · Level 44 of 5C major4:12

The player above plays the first 20 seconds. Learn all 4:12 of A Breeze From Alabama in the PianoKite app: every version, both hands or one at a time, Wait mode on every bar, play-along at 50, 75 or 100% and per-bar feedback. Get early access.

Era
Early modern (1890–1930)
Mood
Joyful · bright and lively
Versions
1

About this piece

Written by Scott Joplin (1868–1917), A Breeze From Alabama is upbeat and sunny, in the early-20th-century style. There is one arrangement: Advanced (level 4 of 5), 4:12 long, in C major. In the app it belongs to the Ragtime collection. Note the pickup: the music starts with an upbeat before the first full bar, so count yourself in before the first note.

About Scott Joplin (1868–1917): American composer known as the King of Ragtime. The Maple Leaf Rag (1899) and The Entertainer (1902) made syncopated piano music famous.

How to play A Breeze From Alabama on piano

  1. Expect weeks, not days. Learn it section by section and keep a list of the hardest passages to practise first in every session.
  2. Slow practice is the fastest way forward: loop the difficult bars at 50% until they are clean, then 75%, then full speed.
  3. Decide on fingering early for fast passages and write it down; changing fingering later costs more time than it saves.
  4. The left hand jumps between a low bass note and a chord. Practise just the jumps, looking ahead to where your hand lands, until they're automatic.
  5. Short daily sessions beat one long weekly one. Ten focused minutes a day is enough to make steady progress.

In the PianoKite app you can learn it with your own digital piano over Bluetooth or USB, or with any piano through the microphone: the score scrolls past a playhead, the keys light up, and every bar gets a score so you can see what's learned. See how it works. New to the piano? Start with the beginner lessons. Get early access.

License and credits

Typeset by Daniel Škarda for the Mutopia Project. License: Public Domain. Source: Mutopia Project.

Both the composition and the source file are in the public domain.

Text events such as lyrics were removed; the notes are as published. The player on this page plays the first 20 seconds.

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