Library

Au clair de la lune

Traditional French song

Many pianists' very first tune: four phrases, three chords and an A A B A form, perfect for discovering the method.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Traditional, with variations by Mozart

The melody everyone knows ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), on three chords: C, F and G.

Frère Jacques

Traditional French song

A round on a single chord chart: ideal for playing both hands together from the start.

Ode to Joy

Ludwig van Beethoven

The theme of the 9th Symphony, in D major: four phrases, one of which changes everything.

Prelude in C major, BWV 846

Johann Sebastian Bach

A single arpeggio pattern, repeated bar after bar: the whole piece is a chain of chords to identify.

Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114

Christian Petzold

The minuet from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, long attributed to Bach: two clear voices, ideal for starting hands together.

Sonata in C major, K. 545: 1st movement

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The “easy sonata”: sonata form in miniature, with its scales and Alberti basses.

Alejandro Sierra / Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 3.0

Für Elise

Ludwig van Beethoven

A refrain that comes back three times (A B A C A): learn it once and half the piece is done.

Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4

Frédéric Chopin

An almost still melody over chords that slide down semitone by semitone: a gem of harmony to understand.

Träumerei (Dreaming), Op. 15 No. 7

Robert Schumann

The daydream from Scenes from Childhood: the same phrase returns, each time with slightly different harmony.

Melody, Op. 68 No. 1

Robert Schumann

The first piece in the Album for the Young: a singing right-hand melody over a simple accompaniment.

Philippe Hézaine / Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 2.5

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Edvard Grieg

A single theme, repeated faster and higher each time: the simplest form there is, and a real tempo challenge.

Gymnopédie No. 1

Erik Satie

Two swaying chords and a slow melody on top: perfect for feeling a chord chart without rushing.

Clair de lune

Claude Debussy

Debussy's best-known piece: rich harmonies that make sense in blocks.

Arabesque, Op. 100 No. 2

Friedrich Burgmüller

The study that learners love: fast runs in the right hand over very simple left-hand chords.

The Entertainer

Scott Joplin

The most famous rag: a bouncing bass, syncopation in the right hand, and four themes that come back.

Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin

The rag that launched the ragtime craze: harder than The Entertainer, but built the same way, in four themes.

Harlem Rag

Tom Turpin

One of the very first published rags (1897), by a friend of Scott Joplin: short, catchy themes.