October: Autumn Song
About this arrangement
Tchaikovsky wrote The Seasons in 1875-1876 for the St Petersburg magazine Nouvellist, whose editor Nikolay Bernard commissioned one piece for each month. Each piece has a poetic epigraph; October's comes from Aleksey Tolstoy.
Learn the melody and the answering voice separately and play each as if singing, then put them together and keep the chords underneath softer.
Start with short loops.
Use the section list as a practice map. Start at 50% tempo, loop one section, then return to the full piece once the hand shape feels stable.
Choose Right or Left to focus on one hand. Wait for note checks the highlighted notes as you play them on the screen or a connected MIDI keyboard.
Before you practice.
01 How hard is Tchaikovsky's October?
It's intermediate. The tempo is slow, but you need to balance a melody and a second voice against the accompaniment.
02 How long is October: Autumn Song?
Our edition has 56 bars in 4/4.
03 What should I practise first?
The right-hand melody alone, then the inner and lower voices. Put them together at 50% and listen for which line leads.
04 Why is The Seasons one piece per month?
The editor of the St Petersburg magazine Nouvellist commissioned a piece for each month of the year, and Tchaikovsky wrote one per month.
