Oh, Oak, Why Do You Lean? (Oi choho ty, dube), by Stetsenko
Every score here is public domain, free to read, print and keep. Open it in the browser and it plays, at whatever tempo you can read it.
Get the practice plan for Oh, Oak, Why Do You Lean? (Oi choho ty, dube)
Here it is. Check your inbox for day 1.
- Hear it through at Slow (31 bpm). Open it in the reader, choose Slow, and follow the page with your eyes without playing. As it plays, count 4 to the bar.
- Learn the right hand of bars 1 to 8 on its own, in B minor. Say the note names out loud the first time through, then play it three times without stopping.
- Find the chords under it: Bm, C♯m7♭5, F♯7 and B7. Play each one as a block in your left hand and say its name, so you know what the harmony is before the left hand has to move.
- Learn the left hand of the same bars on its own. Keep it quiet and even: it is the floor the tune stands on.
- Put hands together at Slow, 31 bpm. Bars 1 to 8 only. Stop after every wrong note and play that bar again before moving on.
- Move up to Steady (46 bpm) once Slow feels easy three times in a row. Then learn the next 8 bars the same way: right hand, left hand, together.
- Play the whole piece (about 1 minute) from the start, at whatever speed keeps it going. A steady run with a few slips beats a fast one that stops.
About this piece
A Ukrainian song by Kyrylo Stetsenko to words by Spyrydon Cherkasenko, asking why the oak bends over the ravine and why the Cossack cannot sleep for sorrow. It is arranged for piano from the song for voice and piano, and the singer's line moves in slow, sustained phrases, marked Sostenuto.
How to play it
Play slowly and give every note its full length. Let the left-hand line that rises through the bars be as expressive as the melody.
Reading it, and printing it
The score opens in Artform's reader, which shows the music as engraved notation and plays it back so you can hear the line before you try it. You can slow the tempo down, loop a passage that is not working yet, and print the page when you would rather have paper on the stand.
The file itself is MusicXML, which MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and Dorico all open, so the notes are yours to keep whatever you read them in.
Edition: Mutopia Project, in the public domain. Converted to MusicXML by Artform and checked note for note against the original.
Who Stetsenko was
Ukrainian composer, priest and choral conductor who wrote songs and sacred music. He was active in the cultural revival of Ukraine after 1917. He died of typhus at thirty-nine.
Learn the music behind it
Reading a piece and understanding it are different skills. If you want the harmony under this one, the chord trainer teaches chords the way songs use them, and the scale pages cover the fingering for every key, including B minor.