A Moonlight Sightread

For relief on these hot dry days, close your eyes and imagine cool moonlight reflecting on the water. You wouldn't be the first to do so. A search for "moon" on IMSLP lists about 7,800 pieces of moon music in the public domain. Plus another 4,000 for "mond", 3,000 for "lune" and 2000 for "luna". The list runs the gamut from the sublime down to "the nadir of all American expression" (Aba Daba Honeymoon).

Lest you've come to think these sightreading pages are only about child's play and ice cream trucks, this month's sightreading handout* is devoted to a serious romantic piece from the top of that long list. It's in the book as just another sightreading exercise, but this melodic reduction is the full length of the original (beware of the page turn) and uses the full range of first position, so it's playable only in that position (no seventh position this month). The notes are fairly reachable and the tempo is mostly slow enough for sightreading, but the rhythm has some challenging notation (e.g. duplets in 9/8 time). You probably don't want to try counting. Just go with the flow as this familiar melody springs to mind from the page as you play.

Relax and enjoy a few minutes playing in the cool moonlight.

*https://jjolson.net/BGS/Aug2025.pdf

Monthly Fretboard Exercises
August 2025
CC-BY: J. J. Olson