The Minuet in G major comes from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, a collection of keyboard pieces for teaching, put together from 1725. It was long credited to Johann Sebastian Bach; scholars now generally attribute it to his contemporary Christian Petzold. It remains one of the most-played minuets among students.
It is in G major and in three beats to the bar. The right-hand melody is lively, with small running eighth notes, while the left hand keeps a calmer line. It is a good exercise in hand independence without excessive technical difficulty.
The key signature has one sharp (F sharp). When you click the F's in the score you will see they land on the neighbouring black key, which is a useful habit to build.
The tricky spots are the right-hand runs of eighth notes, which need steady fingering.
Tip for beginners: practise each half of the piece separately, and find the F sharps first.
About this piece
- Composer
- C. Petzold (attr. J. S. Bach)
- Key
- G major
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Number of bars
- 32
- Range
- G2 – B5
- Level
- Intermediate
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Source and licence
Notes: Mutopia Project, Allen Garvin. File licence: public domain, Partiscope encoding CC0 1.0. All sources and licences