In figure 4 we can see an overview of the keys in the first movement. The player can choose the keys in which to practice the preparatory exercises that day, making sure they cover all keys every two or three days and ordering the keys by their significance in the first movement. It is evident that A flat major is more significant then B-flat minor.
The first set of preparatory exercises concern scales in a linear approach very well known to most pianists:
- Scales in thirds, sixths, tenths.
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Scales in double thirds.
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Playing the scales with leaps of thirds and fifths.
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Improvising short phrases with the scale.
The second set might be less familiar. We approach the scale in a vertical way now:
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Triads: parallel triads in root, first and second inversions (hands separate and hands together). For example:
The next set of preparatory exercises concerns cadences. I will not specify them here but refer to the description by Caplin (2013, pp.14-19). The PAC, IAC and HC progressions1 are the most important ones to practice in regard to our case.
3.4.1 Preparatory exercises
In order to prepare yourself for the exercises concerning the first movement of opus 110 I will start with giving a few exercises that are useful for every day warm-up during the process. Some exercises will be familiar and others might be less familiar. I will only give examples of the ones which I expect to be less familiar.
Before mentioning the exercises let’s look at the key scheme of the sonata.
