Bach Music      Prelude in C

Such lovely Bach music as the Prelude in C is music every piano student should eventually have in their repertoire.

Fortunately, it is not very hard, even in its original form, offered here as a free printable download. 

Bach C Prelude sheet music for piano, the original version

What events is this Johann Sebastian Bach music suitable for?  

  • This beautiful and famous piano music makes great wedding music. 
  • It makes great church worship prelude music. 
  • It makes great piano student recital music!
Bach C Prelude sheet music for piano, the original version

Although it may sound -- and look! -- complicated to your students at first, they will likely be enchanted when you point out to them that every measure is just a repeating broken chord pattern.

This pattern changes by only a few notes from one measure to the next.

Also, the hands take turns playing, one at a time. Perfect for younger students.

Bach music C Praeludium

Please scroll down the page for the printable PDF links.

When your students' hands can reach an octave, and they are beginning to recognize chord inversions, they will be able to learn this piece easily. 

For piano students whose hands are too small for the octaves, or who aren't ready or willing to take on the entire piece, there is a different way to sneak some original classical piano music onto their plate...

Short introduction to Bach C Prelude

Please scroll down the page for the printable PDF links.

Here is Johann Sebastian Bach, in a bite-sized chunk!

In an effort to press more classical music upon my students, I started something new last year which I call "Classical Samplers," or "Classical Soundbites."

There's now a page at Music-for-Music-Teachers, with about a dozen or so of those classical "bites."

These are short excerpts from longer, mostly very famous piano pieces, that capture the flavor of the whole piece, but may be as short as 4 measures, as is this Bach excerpt, above (but most are much longer).

In this way, my students can get exposure to many more pieces in their original, not arranged, form.

Along with their regular lesson material, they will be working on a small segment of a longer classical work. Do they want to keep going and learn the whole piece? Some of them will, but others are satisfied with just an introduction.

We all know what an investment of time -- months! -- it can be to commit to a whole piece of classical music. If and when they do come back to it, they will be PRIMED.

Students whose hands are too small for the octaves, or who aren't ready for such a long piece, won't be overwhelmed by this large-note version of the first 4 measures of the Bach C Prelude.

It is exactly the same as the original, but seems easier with the big notes, even though they are still sixteenth notes. (It can be very liberating for young piano students to realize that sixteenth notes can actually be played slowly, as they are in this piece.)

P.S. Parents love the soothing, repetitious sounds of this Bach music, the "Praeludium I" in C... it can be very restful on the ears!



The link to the full, original Bach Prelude:


Free Bach music -- the original Prelude in C from the Well-Tempered Clavier. (Das Wohltempierte Klavier.) 


The link to the short introduction to the Bach Prelude:


Download free printable piano sheet music for J.S. Bach's Prelude in C Introduction 


Give your students the joy of learning Beethoven's famous Für Elise in an easy-to-read format... every note from the ORIGINAL piece is here in this beautiful new setting, which uses quarter notes instead of sixteenths.

Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!

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About the Author

Dana Thynes

Hi, I'm Dana!  (Say that like "Anna".)  I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.

Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.

You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.