Robert Schumann (1810-1856) 1838 F major 4/4 Intermediate 0:33 Both hands
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Träumerei - "Dreaming" - is the seventh of Schumann's Scenes from Childhood and one of the most famous short pieces ever written for the piano. Its melody rises from a low C to a long F, then climbs again, each time reaching a little further, like a thought that keeps drifting. This easy version gives you the upbeat and the first eight bars with the melody exactly as printed; Schumann's inner voices and bass are gathered into one chord per harmony in the left hand. Play it slowly - Langsam means slow - and let the long notes ring for their full value. It needs patience more than speed.
The upbeat C leads to a long F in bar 1, then the melody climbs E F A C to the high F in bar 2. Bar 3 drops back to the G above middle C and climbs G A B flat D; bar 4 settles on F and C. Bars 5 to 8 start the same way and reach higher, to the high A, before closing on C.
One chord at a time, held: F major in bar 1, F with a D in bar 2, F over C, C7 and F over A in bar 3, C major to lead into bar 5; then A minor, D minor, G7 and the final C. Keep the chords soft, under the melody.
The long notes. Bar 1 holds F for more than a beat and a half, bar 2 holds the high F for two beats: count through them instead of letting go early. The silences in the melody are where the dreaming happens.
Upbeat C with 1, then F with 4 so the hand is ready to climb. Bar 2: C with 1 and the high F with 5. Bar 6: the high A with 5.
The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.
Melody: C F E F A C F F E D C F G A Bb D F G A C G C F E …
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup | C | Do |
| 1 | F E F A | Fa Mi Fa La |
| 2 | C F F E D | Do Fa Fa Mi Ré |
| 3 | C F G A Bb D F G | Do Fa Sol La Sib Ré Fa Sol |
| 4 | A C G C | La Do Sol Do |
| 5 | F E F A | Fa Mi Fa La |
| 6 | C A A G F E | Do La La Sol Fa Mi |
| 7 | F A D F E Eb | Fa La Ré Fa Mi Mib |
| 8 | D E C | Ré Mi Do |
The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.
The piece is in F major: all the chords of the key
Schumann composed Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15, in 1838: thirteen miniatures he described as an adult's memories of childhood. Träumerei is No. 7, and it quickly became a favourite encore of pianists and a standard arrangement for cello, violin and orchestra.
Vladimir Horowitz often played it as an encore, including at his return concert in Moscow in 1986. The piece lasts under three minutes in full: the eight bars on this page come back twice, with a middle section in between.
This transcription: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15, No. 7 (1838), from Leichte Stücke (1900): Mutopia Project no. 504, placed in the public domain; melody of the upbeat and bars 1-8 as printed, the grace note of bar 8 left out and the last note held; one chord per harmony in the left hand, read from Schumann's inner voices and bass, arranged by GOONS Studio. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
Easy Version, Kinderszenen No. 1 · G major
Easy Version · F major
Easy Version, First Section · D major
Easy Version, Bars 1-12 · E minorThe full piano studio opens this score with your MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal, records what you play and exports it as a MIDI file. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.
Dreaming, or reverie, in German. It is the seventh piece of Schumann's Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15, written in 1838.
Level 3 of 5 in this easy version. The original is harder than it looks: four voices move at once and the melody must sing over them. Learn the melody here first, then the original harmonies.
F major, with one flat, B flat. The melody starts on the C below and leaps up to F, the home note.
About two and a half to three minutes in full. The first eight bars on this page take about half a minute at the marked slow tempo.