“Open window” is an original study written for this course. It combines the C-major crossing, a melody reaching A4, and an accompaniment that changes every two beats. It uses no pedal, black keys, or new meter. Start it after you can cross 3–1 between E and F and hold a note while the other hand changes.
The first four bars form one phrase; the next four form a related answer. Bars 1 and 5 share the same harmony but have different melodies. Both phrases finish on C. Learn the two phrases separately rather than treating eight bars as one long string of note names.
Open window: bars 1–4
Right hand now: C4 · 1 beat · Right-hand finger 1
Stopped. Select a note with Next note, or play with sound.
Left hand now: C3 · finger 5
Right hand above · left hand below. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
Tempo: 60 quarter-note beats per minute. The count-in lasts 4 beats. Durations in the selected-note readout use quarter-note units. Tempo changes and Reset stop playback and select the first note. Audio starts only on request, plays once, and stops when hidden or off-screen. The tones are synthesized pitch guides, not a piano recording. A short release gap separates notes. Next note advances to the next attack in either hand. Held notes stay highlighted. There is no moving cursor. Start at low device volume.
Map the complete score before choosing a passage
Use the complete Open window score below as the reference for bar numbers. Its eight bars contain two four-bar phrases, each ending with a whole-note C4 in the right hand and C3 in the left. Those longer endings give each phrase a clear arrival without adding an extra bar. The excerpt players restart their visible bar numbers at 1. Thus the first bar of the second excerpt is full-score bar 5, and its final bar is full-score bar 8. Identify which numbering you mean before choosing a practice target.
The first phrase's right-hand bars are C4, D4, E4; F4, G4, A4; G4, F4, E4, D4; then C4. The first two bars each use quarter, quarter, half. The third uses four quarters, and the fourth one whole note. That gives four beats in every bar despite different numbers of noteheads. Trace those rhythm groups on the score. The third bar has the most right-hand attacks, but the second reaches the highest pitch, A4. A difficult bar may involve range or fingering rather than the largest number of notes.
The second phrase begins E4, F4, G4 in bar 5, using the same quarter, quarter, half rhythm as bar 1 but different starting pitches. Bar 6 has A4, G4, F4 with that rhythm again. Bar 7 uses four quarters, E4, D4, C4, D4, and bar 8 settles on C4. The phrase therefore resembles the first in rhythmic organization while changing its pitch route. Starting bar 5 as though it repeated bar 1 would preserve the rhythm but replace the intended E with C.
Find these similarities without trying to memorize all eight bars at once. Point to the two whole-note endings, then the two bars containing four right-hand quarters, then the bars containing the high A4. This gives specific landmarks for returning to the score after a mistake. The phrases are not interchangeable copies. Their shared rhythm can reduce the amount of new timing to learn, but their different notes still need reading. Use the full score to check those differences rather than relying on a remembered contour from the opening.
Follow the right-hand fingering. In bar 1 use C–D–E with 1–2–3; cross to F with thumb 1 at the start of bar 2. In bar 3, F with 1 returns to E with 3. This is the same movement you practiced in the scale, now placed inside a melody.
Open window: bars 5–8
Right hand now: E4 · 1 beat · Right-hand finger 3
Stopped. Select a note with Next note, or play with sound.
Left hand now: C3 · finger 5
Right hand above · left hand below. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
Tempo: 60 quarter-note beats per minute. The count-in lasts 4 beats. Durations in the selected-note readout use quarter-note units. Tempo changes and Reset stop playback and select the first note. Audio starts only on request, plays once, and stops when hidden or off-screen. The tones are synthesized pitch guides, not a piano recording. A short release gap separates notes. Next note advances to the next attack in either hand. Held notes stay highlighted. There is no moving cursor. Start at low device volume.
Each excerpt player numbers its displayed bars from 1. The second excerpt's local bar 1 is bar 5 of the full piece. The complete score below keeps the full sequence. In the bass, C3–G3 outlines C harmony, F2–C3 outlines F, and G2–D3 outlines G. These are roots and fifths, not full triads; the melody supplies additional harmonic context.
Follow the crossing through its musical context
The opening bar places C4, D4, E4 under fingers 1, 2, 3. E lasts for beats 3 and 4. At the next beat 1, F4 uses the thumb rather than finger 4. The hand must therefore begin a new position as the phrase continues upward. The scale lesson supplies the E-to-F crossing, but the timing here differs from a string of quarters. You hold E for two beats before F. Prepare the next movement during that duration without turning the held E into an extra repeated note.
After F4 with 1, G4 uses 2 and A4 uses 3. The second bar ends with A held for beats 3 and 4. Bar 3 comes down through G4 with 2 and F4 with 1, then crosses to E4 with 3 and finishes D4 with 2. This reverse crossing falls inside the bar, between beats 2 and 3. It is not always a bar-line event. Mark its location mentally from the printed fingers so that the regular quarter-note pulse does not conceal an unplanned change of hand position.
The second phrase uses the same crossing in a different setting. Bar 5 starts E4 with 3 and immediately moves to F4 with 1 on beat 2. G4 follows with 2 and lasts two beats. In bar 6, A4, G4, F4 use 3, 2, 1. The following E4 at the start of bar 7 uses 3. This time the downward crossing is at the bar line. The fingering pattern explains the hand's route, but the score's durations determine how much counted time separates each movement.
Compare bar 1 into bar 2 with the beginning of bar 5. Both contain E4 to F4 with fingers 3 to 1, yet E lasts two beats in the first case and one in the second. Practice each in its written count rather than making every crossing a two-beat preparation. If one version hesitates, isolate its E, F, and following G at a comfortable pace. Then include the note before E so that the movement works as part of the melody. Stop if the crossing demands an uncomfortable position rather than forcing the connection.
Read the bass route independently of the melody
In the fuller accompaniment, bars 1 and 5 contain C3 for beats 1 and 2, then G3 for beats 3 and 4. Bars 2 and 6 contain F2 then C3 with the same half-note rhythm. Bars 3 and 7 contain G2 then D3. Bars 4 and 8 contain one whole-note C3. Each two-note bar moves up a fifth, and each printed pair uses left fingers 5 and 1. Identical interval and fingering patterns do not mean identical keyboard locations. Find each lower starting note before attempting the route in time.
The lowest bass notes also extend the reading range below the earlier C3 position. In bass clef, F2 is in the space below the bottom line, and G2 lies on that bottom line. C3 and D3 are higher within the staff. Read from those landmarks instead of mistaking the low F2 for an F in the previous five-finger position. The octave changes the distance your hand must move. The complete score shows these register differences even when the note-name labels repeat the familiar letters F, G, and C.
The largest awkward move is not the upward fifth inside the second bar. It is the relocation from G3 at the end of bar 1 to F2 at the start of bar 2. Those notes are farther apart than the fifths used within a bar. Their finger labels change from thumb 1 to little finger 5, and the whole hand changes location. Read them as successive destinations, not as endpoints you must hold at once. Release the previous note before moving if necessary. The page cannot determine whether your particular movement is comfortable.
Compare this with the simpler bass score. Its first two bars go directly from whole-note C3 to whole-note F2, both with finger 5. That removes the intervening G3 and reduces the number of attacks, but it does not remove the move to the low register. Locate F2 silently in either version. If a mistake persists in both accompaniments, the issue may be finding the root rather than fitting in the fifth. Use the root-only version to separate that location problem from the extra beat-3 event.
Choose the accompaniment you can keep steady
The left-hand fifths use fingers 5 and 1, but the hand moves between bars. Do not hold the previous key while reaching for the next shape. In particular, G3 to F2 is a large move. Release a little early, move the whole hand left, and locate F2 before the next beat 1. Keep the shift relaxed rather than twisting or stretching.
If the jumps disrupt the rhythm, use the simpler accompaniment below: one root per bar. It keeps the harmony while reducing left-hand attacks. Both versions are legitimate practice stages. Do not add the fifths until you can play the simple version steadily.
Open window: simpler bass, complete piece
Right hand now: C4 · 1 beat · Right-hand finger 1
Stopped. Select a note with Next note, or play with sound.
Left hand now: C3 · finger 5
Right hand above · left hand below. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
Tempo: 60 quarter-note beats per minute. The count-in lasts 4 beats. Durations in the selected-note readout use quarter-note units. Tempo changes and Reset stop playback and select the first note. Audio starts only on request, plays once, and stops when hidden or off-screen. The tones are synthesized pitch guides, not a piano recording. A short release gap separates notes. Next note advances to the next attack in either hand. Held notes stay highlighted. There is no moving cursor. Start at low device volume.
Open window: complete piece with fifths
Right hand now: C4 · 1 beat · Right-hand finger 1
Stopped. Select a note with Next note, or play with sound.
Left hand now: C3 · finger 5
Right hand above · left hand below. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
Tempo: 60 quarter-note beats per minute. The count-in lasts 4 beats. Durations in the selected-note readout use quarter-note units. Tempo changes and Reset stop playback and select the first note. Audio starts only on request, plays once, and stops when hidden or off-screen. The tones are synthesized pitch guides, not a piano recording. A short release gap separates notes. Next note advances to the next attack in either hand. Held notes stay highlighted. There is no moving cursor. Start at low device volume.
Learn each right-hand phrase alone from the displayed score. Check the thumb crossings before adding a beat.
Find the bass roots without a clock, then play the simpler combined version at 60 BPM.
Add the second bass note to only one bar at a time. Reconnect the bar before and after it so you practice the shifts.
After two accurate slow attempts, shape each four-bar phrase: keep the bass quieter, let the melody grow gently toward its middle, then settle into its final C.
“Legato” means connected playing; “staccato” means detached. This study has no printed slurs or staccato dots. Aim for connected right-hand notes where comfortable, with a small breath after each phrase. Keep the internal pulse even; do not lengthen every bar line. The synthesized audio demonstrates pitches and timing, not these expressive choices.
A useful completion check is one steady eight-bar performance with the correct pitches, durations, and planned fingers, followed by a second attempt after a short pause. If it fails, name a specific transition to repair. A faster tempo is optional; a secure 60 BPM performance is a valid goal.
Check the coordination where the parts diverge
Full-score bar 2 illustrates the combined task clearly. Right F4 begins with left F2 on beat 1. On beat 2 only the right changes, to G4. On beat 3 both change, right to A4 and left to C3, and both hold through 4. This resembles the first bar's attack schedule even though the keys and the entry movement differ. Knowing the schedule can remove one source of uncertainty. It cannot replace locating F2 or preparing the right thumb on F4 before the bar starts.
Bar 3 has a different schedule because the right plays four quarters. Both hands start G on beat 1, right G4 and left G2. On beat 2, right F4 sounds while left G2 continues. On beat 3, right E4 and left D3 start together. On beat 4, right D4 sounds while left D3 continues. The two D notes then occupy different octaves with different start times. If the bass repeats when the right D4 arrives, you have copied an attack that belongs only to the upper staff.
At bar 4, both hands arrive on C for a whole bar. Count all four beats before entering bar 5. The right changes to E4 at that next beginning, while the bass repeats C3 as a new half note in the fuller version. The same lower pitch at the boundary still has a new written attack. In the simpler version it is a new whole-note C3. Neither arrangement writes one continuous eight-beat bass note across bars 4 and 5. The repeated root helps connect the harmony, but its rhythm still follows the score.
Test coordination by choosing a bar whose melody you can already play alone, then adding only its root on beat 1. Keep the melody's written durations rather than shortening a half note to wait for the bass. Next restore the beat-3 fifth if you are using the fuller accompaniment. If that addition makes the right hand repeat a sustained note, return to just that beat-3 relationship. The two complete players let you read both bass choices, but there is no automatic comparison of your attempt with either score. Listen and count for the specific event you changed.
Join passages without hiding the transitions
A passage can be correct by itself yet uncertain when approached from the previous bar. After learning full-score bar 5, begin once on the final C of bar 4 and count into it. This adds the change from right thumb 1 on C4 to finger 3 on E4 while the left remains in the C3 area. It tests a different entry from starting with both hands already placed. Use the complete score for this connection, because the second excerpt omits bar 4 and cannot show what immediately precedes its first note.
Similarly, practice an ending with the note before it. Bar 7 finishes E4, D4, C4, D4, so the final whole-note C4 in bar 8 is approached upward to D and then downward to C. In bar 3 the descent is G4, F4, E4, D4 before the same C arrival. Both endings use D4 with 2 followed by C4 with 1, but the earlier contour differs. Reading that difference prevents a learned second-phrase ending from replacing the first phrase's four-quarter descent.
Once the notes and counts are stable enough to compare, try making the melody more audible than the bass if your keyboard supports touch response. Keep the bass schedule unchanged. The printed score has no dynamic marks prescribing a particular loudness curve, so any gentle phrase shape here is a practice choice rather than a symbol you have overlooked. Likewise, there are no slurs or staccato dots to decode. A small release at a phrase ending should not become an uncounted extra beat before the next phrase begins.
For an independent check, start once at bar 3 and once at bar 7, using the full score and the accompaniment you selected. Then play the complete eight bars without chasing the playback. Note whether any error concerns pitch, crossing, bass location, or duration. Choose the next small passage from that observation. A complete run can reveal a weak connection, but repeated starts from bar 1 need not repair it. The simpler arrangement remains a complete musical version for this task. Adding fifths increases the coordination demands; it does not turn an otherwise incomplete melody into a valid piece.
Exercises
Plan the first crossing
Which finger plays the first F in the piece, and how does the preceding note prepare it?
Hint
Bar 1 ends on E with finger 3; bar 2 begins on F.
Worked answer
Read the answer on the staff
Right hand · treble clef. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
An isolated crossing drill with the same fingers; its bar grouping is simplified for practice.
Play E4 with 3 for beats 3 and 4 of bar 1, then F4 with thumb 1 on the next beat 1. The right hand travels right as the thumb passes under. Practice the E–F–G connection first, then restore the preceding notes. Do not wait until the F arrives to choose a finger.
Simplify without losing the harmony
Give the simpler left-hand part for the first four bars. What does it preserve?
Hint
Keep each bar's root and remove its second bass attack.
Worked answer
Read the answer on the staff
Left hand · bass clef. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
Four whole-note roots fill four bars, sixteen beats.
Use C3, F2, G2, C3, one whole note per bar, with left-hand 5. The phrase keeps its C–F–G–C harmonic outline but omits the fifth on beat 3. You still need to move between root positions; practice those moves without a clock before combining hands.
Find a specific practice target
The melody is correct, but you pause before bar 2. Which two movements should you check instead of replaying all eight bars?
Hint
Compare the final note before the gap and the first note after it, in each hand.
Worked answer
Read the answer on the staff
Right hand above · left hand below. Finger numbers: 1 thumb, 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 little.
A four-beat transition drill, regrouped across the original bar line. The low F is reached by moving the left hand, not stretching.
The first transition combines right-hand E4 to F4 with left-hand G3 to F2. Practice the right-hand 3–1 crossing alone, then the bass hand shift alone. Finally play just the last two beats of bar 1 into the first two of bar 2. If the bass jump remains unreliable, keep the root-only version while practicing that move separately.
References and scope
MusicTheory.net lessons provide further explanations of notation, rhythm, and chords. Open Music Theory is a longer reference. The keyboard diagrams, exercises, and rock-style study here were made for these lessons. The Beethoven example uses a public-domain melody, transposed to C, not a modern published arrangement.
Casio CT-S300 product information is the reference for the likely instrument. The lessons do not depend on a particular button sequence, USB connection, or automatic accompaniment.