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Gurlitt - Sea Pink

Allegretto Grazioso. Kleine Blumen Op. 205
This piece of music has been known by a few different titles - "Allegretto Grazioso", "Sea Pink" or "Little Flower". It was written by the German composer Cornelius Gurlitt during the Romantic era, and is no. 11 from a collection of pieces called "Kleine Blumen" (little flowers). op. 205.

This piece is about grade 3 standard and would suit piano learners needing to improve their coordination between hands and sense of melodic shaping. The reason why this piece is particularly good for developing coordination between the hands is because it consists of a right hand melody with a left hand broken chord accompaniment, and the right hand melody needs to sing out above the left hand accompaniment. 

This piece is also good for learning new keys which may not have occurred very often before grade 3. This piece starts off in B minor, the middle section is in F sharp major, then it returns to B minor for the last section. It is in ternary form, meaning there are three main sections - A, B A - the third section is a repetition of the first section. 

To learn the left hand of the first and last sections (which most people find more complex than the left hand of the middle section) - it helps to practise the broken chords as block chords. I.e. take the first three notes of bar one of the left hand, and play them all together as a chord. Do this for all the bars that follow this pattern. This helps you to learn the correct hand positions for all the chords, and better anticipate the notes so that you can get the left hand flowing more. If you can start to see the left hand notes in groups that make up chords, and start to recognise the chords, you will read and learn the music much quicker than if you're having to always work out each individual note, one note at a time. If you look for repetition of patterns in both hands, this will also help you learn the music much more quickly.

​You can listen to another piece by Gurlitt here.
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Qualified graduate piano teacher.
Fellow of The Incorporated Society of Musicians.
More than 25 years of experience teaching piano and music theory in person and online.
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Videos
  • Articles & Tutorials
  • About
  • Fees & Payments
    • Fees
    • Make a Payment
  • Learn Online
    • Beginner's Piano Lesson Package
    • Classical Compilation
    • Free Downloads
    • How to Play Fast eBook and Studies
    • Instruction Video and PDFs - Berens Study in A Minor
    • Music Theory Tutorials
    • Online Music Theory Lessons
    • Online Piano Lessons by Video Exchange
    • Piano Tutorials
    • Skype/FaceTime Lessons
    • Shop
    • Zoom Lessons for Adults
    • Zoom Lessons for Children
  • Contact