Marche des Soldats de Bois, or March of the Wooden Soldiers, was written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky in 1878, which was during the Romantic era. This piece is no. 5 from a collection of pieces called "Album Pour Enfants" or "Album for the Young", op. 39.

This is a light and magical sounding piece, and evokes an image of a child imagining their toy soldiers coming to life. It needs to have a strict, march-like tempo and rhythm to portray the character of wooden soldiers marching. At the same time it needs to have a sense of playfulness and a light touch. 

This piece is about grade 3 standard, and one of the main challenges for piano learners is the fast repeated notes - they need to be rhythmically accurate as well as clear. It is difficult not to slow down or lose a few notes during these bars, so work on technique is required. Changing fingers on fast repeated notes can help a lot, because it encourages the key to be released fully in between repetitions. It is very common for fast repeated notes to be lost because the key has not been fully released, then it is not possible to strike the key again properly in order to get another sound.

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