Once beginning piano students have mastered the fundamentals — names and locations of notes, where these are written on the staff, and basic rhythm patterns — easy piano songs are an excellent way to keep novice players engaged. Simplified arrangements of popular and familiar tunes that students enjoy motivate them to practice and perfect skills and techniques they learn from less interesting (but necessary) drills.
Accessible versions of familiar songs are not meant to replace etudes and scale and arpeggio exercises but can be valuable supplements for pianists at the beginning and intermediate levels. These arrangements provide opportunities to apply what they learn in their lessons while sharpening their reading skills. They also set students up for success early on as they develop and expand their repertoire.
Many Works To Choose From
Easy piano songs fall into two general categories: popular and classical. “Popular” refers to recent and contemporary pop songs, movie and television themes, selections from the Great American songbook, folk melodies and children’s songs. “Classical” is used to describe noncommercial music originally composed for symphonic presentations, formal concert settings, opera, and religious celebrations and ceremonies.
Not all popular and classical music was meant to be easy. Earlier, more sophisticated pop songs by songwriters such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Harry Warren often contain challenging rhythms, complex melodic lines and elaborate harmonic progressions. Classical composers like Mozart frequently wrote pieces for their young students, but much of their music poses serious challenges as well.
This said, almost any piece of music can be adapted and simplified, putting it within reach of the novice pianist.
Easy Classical Music
The classical genre is easily the largest category for easy piano songs. Much of it was written for the piano; there are also many transcriptions available for pieces originally written for orchestra and other combinations of instruments.
The following pieces are good choices for a student at the early intermediate stage who has mastered the basics of notation and technique:
- “Ah Vous dirai-je, Maman” by Wolfgang Mozart: The first of this set of 12 variations on “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” is probably the best introduction to classical music, and can encourage the young player to work on the other, more challenging variations.
- “Minuet in G” by J.S. Bach: This is a well-known melody that was used in the 1965 pop song “Lover’s Concerto.” It is a good introduction to the music of the Baroque Period.
- “Sonatina in G” by Ludwig van Beethoven: Elegant yet simple, this short piece also gives the piano student insights into musical form and structure.
Once the student has mastered these pieces, they will be ready for more advanced, yet accessible material:
- “Prelude in C Major From the Well-Tempered Clavier” by J.S. Bach: Another piece from the “Baroque Top 40,” this piece provides an opportunity to work on arpeggiated chords.
- “Prelude in E minor” by Frederick Chopin: While making very few technical demands in terms of fingering, it does provide an opportunity for the student to work on expression and execution.
- “Arietta From Lyric Pieces” by Edvard Grieg: the challenge in this piece lies in the exotic and unexpected harmonic progressions often present in the music of the Romantic Era.
Easy Popular Music
Finding easy piano music versions of contemporary popular songs is generally not a problem. Pop songs of the past 25 years or so contain fewer notes, little in the way of challenging intervals and melodic contour, and limited chord progressions. This makes it very simple to play and learn. Using contemporary pop is a good way to motivate students to practice and familiarize them with musical notation, basic common rhythm patterns and tempo. Authorized arrangements of recent Top 40 material by today’s recording artists are widely available from many sources.
Contemporary pop songs may not appeal to older adult piano students who grew up hearing groups like Toto, the Beatles, or even Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra and Big Bands. Songs from this period are more complicated, but simplified arrangements of these songs are playable by early intermediate pianists.
A great deal of popular music comes from film and television. With a little online research, you can discover great movies and TV shows arranged in the form of easy piano songs created with the developing pianist in mind, all authorized by the copyright holders. Pieces that often resonate with young musicians include themes from:
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Game of Thrones
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Virtually anything from Disney
In addition, folios of easy piano songs from today’s Broadway musicals are commonly available.
In the end, it is about finding materials that A, are within the budding pianist’s abilities, and B, appeal to the student’s musical tastes. Etudes and exercises are important, but supplementing these with pieces students relate to encourages them to apply those exercises in enjoyable ways.
