Group six, not twelve.
Practise feeling two dotted-quarter beats in each bar. At first, mark the first beat of each group, then remove that accent once the hand knows the pattern.
Original music · Solo piano
Butterfly Dreams
A melody in motion that unfolds without losing its calm.
Over a 6/8 pulse, the melody emerges from a continuous weave of broken notes. Its range gradually expands before returning to the lightness of the opening.
Listen to the piece
Butterfly Dreams
Composition, performance, recording and production: David de Miguel
Work details
- Album
- Serendipity
- Release
- Single 2017 · Album 2018
- Duration
- 3:28
- Instrumentation
- Solo piano
- Level
- Intermediate
- Score
- 5 pages
The piece
Movement comes before melody.
From the opening bars, a six-eighth-note figure keeps the music moving forward. The melody is not laid over it as a separate layer: it grows from within the pattern and reveals itself through its points of emphasis, slurs and sustained notes.
As the register opens out, the same material gains breadth without disturbing the pulse. That continuity—transformation rather than contrast—gives Butterfly Dreams its lightness and serenity.
The original score
A sustained melody within the motion.
The notation preserves the flow of the recording: a broad 6/8 pulse, arpeggios connecting the harmony and an upper line that needs to breathe without separating from the accompaniment.
The complete edition develops the material over 91 bars, with wide changes of position and passages in 8va. It adds neither fingering nor pedal markings, leaving those choices to the performer.
- 016/8 · ♩. = 62A calm pulse, grouped into two beats per bar.
- 02D-flat majorFive flats and an even sonority under the hand.
- 035 pages · 91 barsA continuous form that expands and returns.
- 04Continuous textureMelody, arpeggio and shifts of register.
How to play it
Three ideas to sustain the flight.
The challenge is not to rush, but to maintain continuity while the melody preserves its direction.
Separate the voice from the pattern.
First play only the melodic points of support and their sustained notes. Then add the inner motion close to the keys, making sure it never covers the main line.
Anticipate every change of register.
Isolate the entries and exits of the passages in 8va. Move the arm before the attack, prepare the new position and keep the same tone colour when returning to the middle register.
Bring it to the piano
The music continues in your hands.
The digital edition contains the complete solo piano composition in five pages. Purchase is handled by Sheet Music Direct; its platform always shows the current price and availability.
- Solo piano
- Digital edition
- Level 3 · Intermediate
- 5 pages
Original music
Keep listening to David de Miguel.
Three pieces to continue exploring the same catalogue of original piano compositions.
