What changed in this conversion
- Some held notes in bars 3–8, 10–15, 17, 19–24, 27–28, 30–71 are shown shorter because that hand plays more than one rhythm at once. No notes were removed.
Key facts
- Level
- Level 10 · Advanced. Estimated from the notes (6 of 8 on our difficulty score)
- Time signature
- 9/8
- Length
- 72 bars, 9 pages
- Playing time
- 5:23
- Notes
- 1,468
- Range
- D#1 to C#7
- The source file does not write out repeats, so marked repeats sound and show once.
Source and licence
Licence of the source: Public Domain dedication.
Source: "Clair de lune (Suite bergamasque)", typeset by Keith OHara, The Mutopia Project, https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=1778.
Source: The Mutopia Project, from the edition E. Fromont (1905).
Playback sounds: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0); Upright Piano KW by Gonzalo and Roberto of FreePats (CC0 1.0); Fluid R3 GM by Frank Wen and contributors (CC BY 3.0). Full sound credits.
How to play Clair de lune (Suite bergamasque)
This is an advanced boss level: 72 bars of moonlight, five flats, and a lot of long notes held under moving ones. It rewards patience more than speed.
Where your hands go
It is written in D♭ major with five flats, so many of the notes are black keys. In keyboard staff a black key is a line, so much of this piece sits right on the lines.
Opening: both hands play pairs of notes in the middle of the keyboard, the right hand on F5 and A♭5, the left hand an octave lower on F4 and A♭4.
The time is 9/8: nine eighth notes in a bar, felt as three slow beats of three.
The tricky bars
Your practice plan
- Play bars 1 to 8 very slowly, hands separately, counting "1 2 3, 2 2 3, 3 2 3".
- Practise the crossing in bar 9 on its own until it feels like a dance step.
- Learn the left hand of bars 27 to 36 alone. Once the rolling chords are automatic, the right hand can float on top.
- Work through bars 37 to 50 a few bars a day at half speed with the Speed control.
- Join the sections and play the whole piece with Listen on, letting the long notes ring.
Watch out for
- Counting in three plain beats and losing the groups of three eighths inside each beat.
- Letting go of held notes too early. The page tells you which bars show some held notes shorter because a hand plays two rhythms at once, and in those bars the notes still ring on.
- Playing the four-sharp section (bars 37 to 42) with the flats from the rest of the piece still in your head.
- Rushing the rests and long notes. The silence is part of the music here.
Power-up: press Loop, tap the first and last of the tricky bars, and they repeat until they feel easy. Hands in Options lets you practise one hand at a time. New to the notation? Start with how to read keyboard staff, then how to practise piano.
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