Soldiers' March (Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 2)
A crisp, bold march with a steady two-beat pulse. Perfect for marching around the room.
About this easy piano piece
- Composer
- Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
- Level
- Easy · Stage 3: Little Classics
- Difficulty
- 3.8 on Pianuvo’s scale (1 is your first notes, about 9 is Debussy)
- Length
- about 55 seconds, 48 bars
- Hands
- Both hands
- Time and tempo
- 2/4 at about 108 BPM
- Range
- C3 to G5
Background
The Soldiers' March is the second of the 43 pieces in Robert Schumann's Album for the Young (Album für die Jugend), Op. 68, written in 1848. Ten years earlier his Kinderszenen had looked back at childhood for grown-up pianists; this album was written for children to play, and its first half is aimed at the youngest of them.
Schumann had young children of his own and took their musical education seriously. Later editions of the album were printed together with his Musikalische Haus- und Lebensregeln, a set of short maxims for young musicians about listening, practising, singing and playing in time.
The march itself is short and square: two-bar steps, crisp chords and a dotted rhythm in both hands, the sound of a small parade going past.
How to practise it
This arrangement is 48 bars in G major and 2/4, with the repeats written out: an eight-bar opening played twice (bars 1 to 16), then a middle phrase and the opening's return, both played twice (bars 17 to 48).
Almost every note is short. The chords are eighth notes followed by eighth rests, so lift both hands together in each rest and let the silence be heard.
In the right hand's opening the thumb keeps playing G while the top line climbs B, C, D, E and falls back to D. The left hand plays the same dotted rhythm with single notes:
The dotted rhythm needs care. The dotted eighth note lasts three times as long as the sixteenth, so the sixteenth arrives late and leads straight into the next beat. Say "MARCH-ing ON" with a very short "-ing". Evening them out turns the march into a jog.
In bars 17, 18, 21 and 22 the texture changes: the hands play the same notes an octave apart (D, E, F sharp, then E, D), still in the dotted rhythm. Practise these bars hands together from the start and listen for the two hands landing exactly together.
Three steps:
- Clap bars 1 and 2, counting "1 e & a 2 &", with the sixteenth on "a" and a lift on every rest.
- Right hand by itself, then left, around 60.
- Hands together at 60, then 80 and 96, and finally the full 108.
Keep the beat absolutely steady: it should be a march you could walk to.
Dotted rhythms begin with the dotted quarter note in the ties, dotted rhythms and upbeats unit; this march uses the same idea at twice the speed.
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Quick tips
- Play the dotted rhythm at the start sharply and keep a steady left-hand beat like a drum.
- It covers a wide C3 to G5, so look ahead for the big moves and keep your arms relaxed. Both hands play: learn each hand on its own first, then put them together slowly. At 48 bars it is easiest to learn in small pieces of four bars.
- Written at about 108 BPM, but start near 76 BPM (70% speed) and speed up only when two clean plays in a row feel easy. Count 1-2 in a steady, marching pulse.
In the Academy
Not yet part of the Academy course. You can still play it any time from the song path. See the Academy course outline for what Year 1 covers.
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Edition credit. The composition is in the public domain. This version of the music uses an edition by Mutopia Project (typeset by Philippe Hézaine), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 (source page). Thank you to its creators.