Kids Piano Sheet Music
Winds in the Willow
Kids piano sheet music "Winds in the Willow" is a free beginners piece that uses a D minor pentascale pattern to suggest movement. You could call it a thinly-disguised scale practice, but it is too pretty to believe that its only purpose is for an exercise!
It's just scales? A cinch!
Yes, but... Control and coordination are necessary for success in this little song.
The LH doesn't stop moving
The left hand moves constantly, requiring evenness and control. Though this is pretty easy piano sheet music, matching right hand to left hand scale in the first two lines is a good early step in hand coordination.
Download kids piano sheet music "Winds in the Willow"
What about the finger numbers?
No fingering in this song! Therefore, your students must be able to read the notes. Or figure them out. The "Daddy" note "D", as I like to call the D above Middle C (it is Daddy holding up the "ladder" or staff on top of his head, he is so strong) is the first RH (right hand) note.
Count up by lines and spaces to find the next note, "A". As for the LH (left hand), figure out the bottom note "D" by its proximity to "F", the "fish" note (second line from the top - draw a tail on it and tell your students it is trying to swim between the bubbles or dots).
Try to make it expressive - let your student help decide
Depending on where on the keyboard your student plays, the mood of this simple piano song can be gentle and melancholy, or loud and stormy. Because I have not put dynamic markings in this piece, it can be very changeable! Up high, the music can sound very delicate; down low, heavy and strong.
Hold an audience in the palm of your hand...
Show your student how to slow way down at the end, even greatly exaggerating the ritard that often signals an ending, so that they hold their listeners spellbound with just a few quiet notes.
What are the winds?
This music has nothing to do with Kenneth Graham's "The Wind in the Willows," but like that wonderful story, has an intriguing name with a hint of a mysterious promise... See if your student is interested in coming up with some words for the tune. Halloween or misty fall weather might be an inspiration, for some.
Check out more easy songs with a reach of just 6 or 7 notes:
Egyptian Dance - not as hard as it sounds! Very mysterious & beautiful.
I'm a Pirate - a good song for young boys! Several settings.
Indian Dance - one of the most popular & accessible songs for beginners here
Irish Wedding (easy version) - all my students want to play this high-energy song!
Kum Ba Yah - very pretty and easy - just 6 notes.
Lavender's Blue - young girls love this music, especially if they have seen Lily James' Cinderella!
Winds in the Willow - scale practice disguised as a mysterious, pretty minor melody.
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