This free printable piano music for beginners might be your students' first exposure -- but not their last! -- to the wonderfully spooky piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Download it free, and take advantage of this classical sheet music to introduce your beginner piano student to the music of Edvard Grieg.
This short piano arrangement of a very big piece of music encompasses some big ideas for students who are ready; sharps and flats in the same line, lots of skipping, reading the octava symbol, and interpreting 1st endings.
Since there are more notes than fingers in this free printable piano music, your students will quickly realize that some of their fingers will need to do double-duty! This can be a big step for some kids if they have never done it before, so I suggest splitting the hands at first (you play the other part) during the lesson so they only need to think about ONE hand at a time. When that part makes sense to them, switch parts.
Try singing the (admittedly silly) words in this little arrangement to encourage them to persevere with the difficult melody. Being able to tell in song a complete story or poem is a good motivator.
Sometimes I give piano students a "fill-in-the-blanks" companion worksheet to go with this free printable piano music. In the Hall of the Mountain King makes a good worksheet, since it gives students the opportunity to draw sharps and flats. We always do this TOGETHER at the lesson, turning it into more of a game, a break from routine, instead of sending it home to do.
In their notebook or 3-ring binder, I punch holes in the pages of the music and the worksheet so that they face each other, then we talk about what's missing, and fill in just a line or two, to try to make the short worksheet last another week.
If you do find yourself with a copy of the Schaum arrangement, try this with your students:
Start the music with a very slow, soft, and creepy touch. Let the music keep building just the slightest bit, but keep pulling back to piano -- no forte.
At the bottom of page 2, write in some repeat dots and go back to the beginning of the piece. Drop the left hand down an octave, and beginning at once to gradually pick up the pace, get louder and faster with each line. By the page turn to page 3, you should be roaring along. That will make the crescendos and sudden acents on page 3 happen almost intuitively. This J. Schaum arrangement is very, VERY FUN.
This next video from Youtube is an orchestra playing this wonderful Grieg music. What an exciting rendition!
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Marta: Thank you for the free downloads! I'm a private teacher and I teach piano and beginner voice as well. :) I've been running my studio for about a year and I've come across the same issue; I don't want my students to have to purchase an entire supplemental book for only a couple of songs. So thank you for this site...some great downloads!!
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Thank you so much. I know this will be a big help to me and my students.
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Susie: Wow! I cannot thank you enough for the free collection of piano sheet music that you created here. My daughter and I are following everything you wrote and we LOVE it. It is super fun!!! She loves to play because of your website. We have a small binder now that is slowly growing! THANK YOU!!!!
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