A variation of the previous piece title, focusing on expressive, flowing arpeggios that mimic the motion of birds. It is a work of moderate technical and emotional depth.
Ensure the phrasing remains fluid despite the shifting hand positions.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Albumleaf No.20: Birds Flying over the Spruce is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 5.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Albumleaf No.20: Birds Flying over the Spruce lasts about 3 minutes.
Albumleaf No.20: Birds Flying over the Spruce is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Albumleaf No.20: Birds Fly Over the Spruce by Shuwen Zhang, Albumleaf No.28: The Dead-leaf Butterfly by Shuwen Zhang, Albumleaf No.12: After Watching the Eggflower-shaped Clouds over the Highway End by Shuwen Zhang — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.