Classical Piano Sheet Music -
In Bite-Size Pieces

Classical piano sheet music  - see what's new! 

Classical music can seem daunting and unapproachable to young piano students, and even older students!

Check out this growing collection of short excerpts from the piano literature.  They have been part of the "Note-reading" assignments in my studio. 

Letting them choose

Simply put, I might play 3 or 4 for my students and let them decide what they'd like to take home THIS WEEK.  (Next week or the week after, it will be a different piece!)  The music is different levels.

NO, this page is NOT finished yet!  Lots more music to come.

Allegro Burlesco

Allegro Burlesco piano music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Allegro Burlesco is a stormy piece.  It's also fun, with its octave stretch and little grace notes.


*Listen to a recording of Allegro Burlesco*


Basic piano chords in root position and inversions in the left hand are a bonus!

Burgmuller's Arabesque

Here is part one of Burgmuller's "Arabesque" - the notes are double-time, but they are the original notes.  Easier reading! 

Arabesque piano music, Burgmuller simplified

Please scroll down the page for the download links.


*Listen to a recording of Arabesque*


I love this little piece, even just page one, because the right hand is so easy, that students can concentrate on the left-hand chord inversions.  Often, they will have just gained some skill with these different chord shapes.

How am I using these short arrangements?

What am I doing with this music?  Well, that might change from month to month!

Right now, I'm handing it out, then my student uses a note-reading guide (if they need it) to write all the notes onto the sheet.  Essentially, it is a worksheet.

And - DOUBLE THE FUN - they get introduced to some REAL MUSIC!

Can-Can

A very recognizable piece of music - this is just part of Can-Can.


*Listen to a recording of this section of Can-Can*


Can-Can piano music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This is a very fun section of the Can-Can music.


The famous Canon by Pachelbel

Here is the fun and well-known theme of the Pachelbel Canon, below.  Your beginners will have fun with this, playing it week after week and getting FASTER. 

If you wish to accompany them with the chords, they are C, G, Am, Em, F, C, F, G... or go to one of my Canon pages to read it for yourself.

The Pachelbel Canon for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Canon, the beautiful introduction

Pachelbel Canon sheet music intro for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Many of your students will be familiar with the introduction to the Canon already, and will be excited to start it.


*Listen to a recording of the Canon intro*


However, this intro will be much easier to tackle after your students have conquered the fingering in basic piano chord inversions.

Egyptian Dance

The following piece can be found in a 2-page version here...

Egyptian Dance for easy piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This is the REAL introduction to Fur Elise... but I'm using quarter notes instead of the regular timing (3/8) to encourage students.  

If your students would like to learn THE ENTIRE PIECE with quarter notes, every note written by Beethoven there, go have a look at this page.

Fur Elise, by Beethoven

Almost everyone has heard this famous little theme.  Just in case, here is a recording:


*Listen to a recording of the beginning of Fur Elise*


Theme of Fur Elise for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

German Dance, by Beethoven

The German Dance below is actually supposed to be in the key of D.  For this purpose - note-writing and working on tucking under the fingers, I re-wrote it in the key of C.  The scale runs and finger replacement spots are good skills to practice in a short song.


*Listen to a recording of German Dance*


Beethoven piano music "German Dance"

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Very easy and obviously arranged for young beginners, this melody has a duet secondo on this page...

The Golden Wedding

Golden Wedding piano music for beginners

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Some "tricky" notes in this little etude by Heller... ledger line notes are a challenge initially:

An etude by Heller

Heller's Etude in C for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

A well-known orchestral piece, The Moldau

The Moldau, below, is a famous and beautiful piece.  

Visit one of my other Moldau pages for a long and full arrangement, or for a beginner version with lyrics.


*Listen to a recording of this short version of The Moldau*


The Moldau theme for piano sheet music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Beethoven's famous Moonlight Sonata

Okay, so the Moonlight Sonata below is an ARRANGEMENT, not the real thing. 

Wait - it IS the real thing, but moved down a half step!  Now it is (relatively) easy to play, and still VERY BEAUTIFUL.  Get out the Note-Reading Worksheets for those super low notes:

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in an easier key

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

One page of the original

What's this? The actual notes from the original Moonlight Sonata - but without the key signature.  

This is a good way to introduce ambitious students to this wonderful composition, and to judge if they are ready for the whole piece!

Original Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, first few measures

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Edvard Grieg's lovely Morning Song

Sheet music for Grieg's Morning Song

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This arrangement is two pages.

A theory lesson from Bach

Sixteenth notes are often confusing to young students.  Prepare them for this series of broken chords and inversions by going through a sheet showing the three main chords in the key of C minor...


*Listen to a recording of Bach's Little Prelude in C Minor*


Bach's Little Prelude in Cm for piano
Bach's Little Prelude in Cm for piano page 2

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

"Solfeggietto" by one of J.S. Bach's sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel, is fun and energetic, even a bit stormy!

Here are just the beginning few measures, with the key signature removed.

An introduction to the keyboard piece "Solfeggietto," by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Mozart's familiar Sonata

Mozart's "easy sonata" (Sonata facile) in C, is a crowd-pleaser, and sure to please your students.  There are some challenges to reading and playing this 8-measure intro:

  • A clef change in the left hand
  • A trill in the right hand
  • Long scales which involve careful fingering


*Listen to a recording of the introduction to Mozart's Sonata in C*


Mozart's Sonata in C for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Clementi's piano music can be so cute!

Clementi's "little" sonatas, or sonatinas, are pretty fun to play, and spotting the hidden chords and scales is fairly easy detective work for your students.  Aside from the theory aspect, the scale and chord work are important for technique.  

The following excerpt has energy and an engaging melody!


*Listen to a recording of this excerpt from Clementi's Sonatina*


Clementi Sonatina in C introduction for piano

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Music by Joseph Haydn

Haydn piano music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Spring, from Vivaldi's Four Seasons

The Four Seasons Spring Vivaldi

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Ballet music by Tchaikovsky, slow & pretty

Swan Lake sheet music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

More music from Beethoven

Now, the theme from Beethoven's 6th symphony, below, is not a piano piece, of course, but it is such a lovely and energetic theme that it is a joy to play!


*Listen to one of the themes of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony*


Beethoven 6th Symphony theme

Finding the original pieces in their full form

A wonderful site for public domain classical sheet music is known as IMSLP - the International Music Score Library Project.  (It is also known as the Petrucci Music Library.)

Not only can you find multiple uploads of classical music there, but you may also upload your own transcription or scanned copy of old sheet music.  Downloading pdfs to your own computer is FREE, though they do ask for a small donation, which is worth considering!

Recordings & Sheet Music are both featured

Some of the uploads are obviously just for posterity, and will not be useful!  Compare two versions of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata... the top one is just interesting historically!  The second one is at least legible, and there are many more options available.

Music score from IMSLP
Old music page



The links for the classical piano sheet music excerpts:


Arabesque by Burgmuller

The version shown is just the first half of Arabesque, with doubled timing.

Here is the same music, but with the original sixteenth notes.

Moonlight Sonata

Not the original, but ALMOST. One page from the actual piece, moved down one half step.

Moonlight Sonata

The original piece (one page), with the sharps written in.

Morning Song by Edvard Grieg sheet music

Morning Song

One of Grieg's most famous pieces.  A lilting melody with a Norwegian flavor, somehow, like most of his music!

Prelude in C Minor, by J.S. Bach

"Little Prelude," "Praeludium," or just "Prelude".

Solfeggietto, by C.P.E. Bach

With the key signature removed - but it's still in C minor!

Sonatina by Clementi, Op. 36, No. 3    

Little chord fragments, broken chords, and scale passages make this a useful piece, as well as being very fun to play!




Sonatina in C major by Haydn, sheet music for piano

Sonatina in C by Haydn

This is an adorable little tune, with easy close-in chords.

The Four Seasons Spring Vivaldi for piano

Spring from the Four Seasons by Vivaldi

An arrangement of a violin concerto - go to this page to find this arrangement and also an easier one.

Swan Lake sheet music

Swan Lake

Not too easy; not too hard.  But very pretty!

Several version on the Swan Lake page, including a lovely and longer early intermediate arrangement.

Though Swan Lake sounds difficult, the right hand never has to lift in this part of the piece, and the left hand uses the same two broken chords over and over again.  

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony Theme for piano

Symphony No. Six theme, Beethoven 

A very sweet and happy-sounding melody!  Lots of easy chord inversions.


Interested in songs from the Bible for your students or church?  Check out my other website, SingTheBibleStory.com!

SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

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Queen Esther in the Bible

This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This",  available as a digital downloadtells the riveting story of the time when  Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a  brave young queen risked her life to save her people.

A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!

This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.


Just the Black Keys, a piano song book for young beginners.

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This book is available as a digital download  from this site.  Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.

It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!

This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.

And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!"  They will be spending more time at the piano.

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With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.

Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!

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Beth D:
Just wanted to say thank you so much for your huge resource of piano pieces! I greatly appreciate your work! I use your music with my students often. Ode to Joy (alpha note version) helped one of my students who was struggling with reading it. I love seeing them reading/playing something they wouldn't been able to do yet. Thank you for letting me/others have it for free. :) Hope you have a wonderful evening! God bless!

Mozart's Magic Flute opera, arranged for piano

Alicia:
I just wanted to say THANK YOU!!!

I started teaching my kids music and am now teaching others. This is exactly what I was looking for!! Thank you!!

Bach's most beautiful melodies sheet music

Cat:
Thank you so much for these resources - I have a small music studio in Johannesburg, South Africa.

My kids love playing these tunes.

Classical piano music for level 1

Cathy:
I recently purchased your arrangement of The Moldau (a longtime favorite of mine).

I wasn't sure if any of my students would be interested in it, but to my amazement 3 of my students LOVE it. Thank you so much for making your great arrangement.

Piano Treasury of Early Classical Music book

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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.