Easy Piano Sheet Music Free
The Snake Charmer

Easy piano sheet music FREE, The Snake Charmer.  Now with a few "helper" notes for younger beginners!

This melody is mysterious-sounding and FUN.

An easier-to-read arrangement for beginners

The Snake Charmer melody with letters in the notes

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

The old arrangement was easy enough...

... plus it was good sight-reading practice!  Why give kids this "baby" version?

Because with "distance teaching," I can't reach through the computer and grab their little hands, or point to a sheet of reference notes.  Not quickly, anyway.  And sometimes I just want to give them a fun new song!

Like the version below (same notes), when a student begins to find the melody easy to play, it is time to add a Dm left hand chord to the beginning of every measure.  See the other arrangement, below.

New lyrics for this old song

The Snake Charmer has a familiar melody, but new (and polite) words. Because this minor-key melody has a history as one of those school playground songs with less than refined lyrics, it took me some time to decide to give it to students. 

But since the tune is so great, The Snake Charmer deserved to be rescued, so that is what I have attempted here!  I believe I have succeeded, because students work hard at this song:

Easy piano sheet music free for kids The Snake Charmer

Please scroll down the page for the link to the printable PDF.

The melody of Snake Charmer takes skill

If your students are just starting to coordinate left hand chords with right hand melody, this easy piano sheet music will almost certainly be a hit.  But this song is way beyond the ease of putting hands together that occurs in Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Reading and executing thirds or "skips"

What places The Snake Charmer in a different category?  The little skips (3rds) and melodic turnarounds.  

I like to say to my students, "This is one of those twisty-turny melodies that tries to fool you! Be on the alert!" 

Castle Practicing

Practice method: "Castle Practicing"

This easy piano sheet music is fun to practice low ("down in the dungeon"), in the middle of the piano ("the castle throne room") and way up high on the piano also ("the tower").

I call this "Castle Practicing," and if I quickly sketch a castle on my student's lesson sheet, it means I want them to practice it this way, for a repetition of 3 times. (You could also add "drawbridge" and "Queen's Chambers, or Queen's Boudoir" for more repetitions.) This is handy for a student who isn't actually reading words yet!

Here is a bigger castle list:

Dungeon

Courtyard

Throne room

Queen's chambers

Tower

Flag on the tower

Don't let a good song go to waste - now transpose it!

The Snake Charmer is also a good song for transposing, as the melody all fits into a 5-finger pattern.  Once kids know this piece well, they enjoy the challenge of moving week by week from Dm to Em, to Fm (very hard), to Gm,  then Am (a respite!), the very tricky key of Bm, and then to C minor.

By then, it is certainly time to choose a different song! 

But my students who have made it through the gauntlet of the black-key pentascales (Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, Gb) are ready to also try the minor variations of these positions (G#m, Bbm, C#m, Ebm, and F#m) on Snake Charmer.

This is excellent ear training and helps them understand the keys better.

Transposing a minor melody seems harder for young musicians than transposing a major song!

A real snake charmer

Wow! Look at this fellow handle a real live snake! This is not the tune "Snake Charmer," but this the story that the song tells:



The links to the Snake Charmer piano music:



Download the new easy-to-read melody for Snake Charmer



Download easy piano sheet music free Snake Charmer with left hand written out




More 5-finger songs at Music-for-Music-Teachers:

Boil'em Cabbage Down - only 4 notes, and lots of repeated notes, with energy!


Cat Came Back (easiest version) - with fun-to-sing lyrics, many verses!


Eensie Weensie Spider - check out the lead sheet version, which stays with just 5 notes


Erie Canal - Part I has only 5 notes, but is a satisfying introduction to this song


Fuzzy Wuzzy - cute and short!


Go Tell Aunt Rhody - you have played this song in beginning band!


God is So Good - a sweet melody with sweet words


Jingle Bells - every child knows this one


Mary Had a Little Lamb - a song with many uses!


Ode to Joy, the famous tune by Beethoven


Pizza Please (Hot Cross Buns) - 3 notes, arranged for each hand


Sharks (3 notes, for left hand) - this is like the Jaws theme song


Snake Charmer - with fun lyrics and a mysterious minor melody


Tarantelle - the spider dance, with silly lyrics about tarantulas


When the Saints Go Marching In - with several arrangements!


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

SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

Songs Old & Songs New

All the first-year material I give my beginner students. 

Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!

The Story of Esther - a Bible opera!

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.


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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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Comments: Do you have a story or a question about music teaching? Share it!

Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...


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.