Interactive piano piece
Learn Prelude in B major, Op. 28 No. 11
A bright, dance-like 27-bar prelude in B major full of leaping right-hand figures over a flowing left-hand accompaniment — one of the lightest and most charming pieces in Op. 28. Loop any phrase in the interactive score and use the tempo slider to feel how this B-major prelude's arpeggios float — or tumble — depending on the arm weight behind them.
Browser MIDI check pending
Loading score...
Press Play for the full piece, or choose Opening and switch to Wait for note for guided right-hand practice.
About the piece
A breath of B major between two darker preludes.
Prelude No. 11 in B major is one of the sunniest pieces in the Op. 28 set — a gentle, flowing study in broken-chord accompaniment that stands in deliberate relief between the turbulent No. 10 and the searching No. 12. Chopin completed it during the same 1838–39 Majorcan winter that produced much of the collection, working in difficult conditions but somehow producing this small piece of untroubled lyricism.
The right hand carries a singing melody above rolling left-hand arpeggios, a texture Chopin had refined through his nocturnes. The prelude is short — under a minute in most performances — but its consistent B-major brightness gives it a personality quite distinct from the more turbulent members of the set.
Practice path
Float the melody over an even arpeggio carpet.
The challenge is balance: the left-hand arpeggios must remain soft and even so the right-hand melody can sing above them without effort. Practise the left hand alone at a slow tempo, aiming for a circular wrist motion that produces no accents on individual notes.
Score basis: Generated MusicXML from Mutopia MIDI. Public domain composition; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0; MusicXML generated for Pianodemy. Attribution: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/ChopinFF/O28/Chop-28-11/).
MIDI source: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/ChopinFF/O28/Chop-28-11/). Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
Questions
Before you practice.
Short answers for learners and for searchers deciding whether this is the right version to start with.
01Is Chopin Prelude Op. 28 No. 11 good for late beginners?
Yes — it is one of the more accessible preludes in Op. 28. The right-hand leaps need some practice to become natural, but the piece is short, the tempo is moderate, and the B major key, while full of sharps, has a positive, uplifting character that rewards the effort.
02What makes Prelude No. 11 special among the Op. 28 set?
Its lightness. Most of Op. 28 leans toward drama or melancholy, but No. 11 offers a transparent, almost dance-like energy — making it a popular recital opener or a breath of relief between heavier pieces.
How to use this V1
Keep the arpeggios quieter than you think they need to be.
At 60% tempo, play the left hand alone and aim for a level, unaccented flow — the thumb note should not stick out. At 80%, add the right hand and use wait-for-note mode to check that the melody note is slightly louder than the arpeggio notes beneath it. The piece should feel effortless at full tempo; if it doesn't, the left hand is still too heavy.