Halloween Songs for Piano

Halloween songs for piano players who are past the beginning stages... solos and duets!  Don't consider these just HALLOWEEN songs - they are mysterious-sounding pieces that bear a child away in their imagination, to another time and place.

In "Stories I Don't Believe," the words are ominous... "Something's in the forest, just behind the trees..."  But we don't know what it is!  There are two versions of the lyrics: one ends with the mention of stories about a monster, stories about a sasquatch, stories about a dragon... these are "stories I don't believe!"  This version of the lyrics is satisfying for younger children, with enough mystery to pull them into the song.

The arrangement above ALSO comes with no lyrics at all - just plain piano music.

Here is the simplified version of the song, a lead sheet really, which shows the alternate lyrics in part 2, more suitable for older children who are not moved by monsters, sasquatches, and dragons!  Instead, the unknown and indescribable fears are more likely to bring a feeling of being "deliciously scared," as Anne Shirley in "Anne of Green Gables" says.  "Legends inside the darkness... whispers within the shadows... tales of secret terror..."

The download comes with a teacher's guide to the lead sheet, with my suggestions for interpreting the chords (I do more than just play root position chords in this song with my students).  Yes, this set of songs (31 pages for 3 songs in several versions and levels of difficulty) is FOR SALE: $8 for all 31 pages of music, including 4 pages of lead sheet guides.

The next song, Double, Double, Toil & Trouble, has the same tune as a song I introduced last year, Zombies are Everywhere.  Double, Double has cleverer lyrics; William Shakespeare himself wrote them - they are the words that the 3 hags of Macbeth are chanting as they stir a cauldron.

Here is the full solo arrangement, which I have not placed on my site before:

This is page one.  The song set also comes with the former lyrics, "Zombies."  Here is page 2, with the Zombie words:

These solos are part of the $8.00 set of songs:

Double, Double, Toil & Trouble also comes as a duet.  The Primo makes a fine solo for elementary students - here is page one:

Here is page 2 of the Secondo, which makes it very exciting!

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A shortened version is perfect for older first-year students:

These duets and solos are part of the $8.00 set of songs:

The Lily Maid, below, is going to have an appeal for young girls... for some girls, a GREAT appeal.  It is romantic, dwelling on a time of chivalry, ladies, knights, castles and strange curses.  The melody is simple and slow, the chords hollow-sounding and atmospheric.  

Yes, that graphic group of words at the bottom of page 2 is the figure of a boat - the boat that bears "the Lily Maid" away.  Or the boat that Anne (of Green Gables) sank in, when play-acting the Lady of Shallot poem!

Here is a denser right hand for page 2, very pretty:

And a trickier arrangement of the Lily Maid, showing just page 1:

Page 2 (not shown) has running left hand chords, and right hand chord inversions in the melody.

Buy the Lily Maid, Double, Double, Toil & Trouble, and  Stories I Don't Believe multiple-arrangements set, $8.00 for 31 pages, with permission to download the songs for your students in perpetuity:

And here is the LEAD SHEET of The Lily maid, which can be played as is, or, using the teacher's guide, with chord alterations:

I have had good luck getting kids to understand the value of chord inversions, using this melody.

Buy The Lily Maid and the other songs in this set, $8.00 for 31 pages, with permission to download the songs for your students in perpetuity:

My students have been enjoying these songs.  I don't know why mysterious-sounding songs have a pull for children, but I know that they DO.  Perhaps it is because they sound SIGNIFICANT, as if something important is being learned or felt.  I know your students will enjoy these songs as well.

Here is what Anne is reciting on her slow walk through the woods at the beginning of "Anne of Green Gables," 1985:

These songs in their multiple versions are FOR SALE, for $8.00 for all 31 pages, with permission to copy again and again for your students.

The 2.2 MB file is delivered by E-junkie.com, with payment through PayPal.