Easiest, yet great, piano piece ever written

[steinwaymodeld]

Btw Bernhard, what standard or institution do you mean by grade 8?  

ABRSM

Grade 8 is the highest grade, and it probably compares with your grade 10.

Grade 8 ABRSM does not even begin to include the easier virtuoso repertory. All but two of the Chopin etudes are considered well beyond grade 8.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

Grade 8 is not the highest in ABRSM examination system.
After Grade 8 there is Diploma, LRSM (Licentiship) and FRSM (Fellowship)

Diploma is something like easy Beethoven sonata (Pathetique or Moonlight)
LRSM is stuff like Chopin etudes and Liszt etudes (as stated in the syllabus) and hard beethoven sonata
FRSM is something like LIszt sonata, Ravel Gaspard, Chopin sonata....

It's easy to find the syllabus of the ABRSM exam syllabus on their website.

My friend just took the FRSM with ALL Liszt programme.

[bernhard]

Bernhard -- this was asked much further up in the thread but I think you may have missed it, as I didn't see a reply. Someone listed several tunes from the Alfred study book and asked what grade level they are at.

I'm expecially curious about your take on Brahms Lullabye. I'm a 45 year old now in my 7th week of study. I'm become piano crazy and I'm quite addicted in a very short time. I love this piece and play it incessantly.

I suspect its a bit tougher than what you are looking for, no way a child would be able to play it in a day or likely even a week, but its pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Of course, its like you said earlier, its either easy or impossible ....

Marc

Hi Marc,

I have just seen your post, I am sorry it took so long to reply. I do not know the version of the Lullaby you are talking about (there are several). The original version by Brahms himself is actually for voice and piano. You can get it here:

https://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/compositions_b/br_lulla.pdf

and it is easy enough to be tackled by a beginner after a couple of months of lessons.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bobmarbj]

Bergerac – Marshmallow Sundae (nice and simple chord progression – looks difficult since there are jumps all over the keyboard – fun to play. I teach this one to three years old!)

[bobmarbj]

Where do you find sheet music for Bergerac "Marshmallow Sundae". Would love to find it  for one of my students !

[pianonut]

dear bernhard,  i will print out a lot of your suggestions and some of the replys for additions to my repertoire list for each level.

do you think one could simplify and modify some movie soundtracks, pop tunes, american tunes (medley's sometimes)?  maybe these would be less cumbersome than bartok and kodaly folk tunes (which help with hearing intervals, etc., but are not as western sounding).

my kids like to try to pick out things they hear on tv sometimes, too.  i suppose one could try to find or write out mini tunes (that fit into a scale), and then keep enlarging them (going past the scale by one, two, three...notes) 

you are quite a good teacher to give your students so much time and effort.  i did that with tutoring reading, but not piano lessons.  even a couple of lessons during the week, instead of just one lesson would really advance progress.  do some parents want to pay double, or do you offer your services at a discount for those who practice more?

[pianonut]

did i really spell replies with a 'y?'  oops.

[steinwayguy]

Bartok's Mikrokosmos?

[pianowelsh]

I love Schumanns Arabesque. Of course it has it's difficulties but it could not be said to be VERY difficult and it a beautifully simple piece in terms of its musical character and a wonderful postlude on it

[Dikai]

hmm... i think all the Clemente sontinas are awesome...
so cute....
it's like the mozart sonatinas...

[bernhard]

Where do you find sheet music for Bergerac "Marshmallow Sundae". Would love to find it  for one of my students !

Marshmallow Sundae is part of a collections called "The Delicious Book", published by Schroeder & Gunther.

I ordered mine from my local music shop.

It is also reprinted on a book of piano pedagogy:

Max W. Champ - "Developing Piano Performance - A Teaching Philosophy" (Alfred)

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

dear bernhard,  i will print out a lot of your suggestions and some of the replys for additions to my repertoire list for each level.

do you think one could simplify and modify some movie soundtracks, pop tunes, american tunes (medley's sometimes)?  maybe these would be less cumbersome than bartok and kodaly folk tunes (which help with hearing intervals, etc., but are not as western sounding).

my kids like to try to pick out things they hear on tv sometimes, too.  i suppose one could try to find or write out mini tunes (that fit into a scale), and then keep enlarging them (going past the scale by one, two, three...notes) 

you are quite a good teacher to give your students so much time and effort.  i did that with tutoring reading, but not piano lessons.  even a couple of lessons during the week, instead of just one lesson would really advance progress.  do some parents want to pay double, or do you offer your services at a discount for those who practice more?

In general I am against facilitated pieces. However I am very much in favour of outlined pieces, that is, pieces that you subtract a number of notes and leave the "essential ones", as long as the fingering of the outlined version takes into consideration the missing parts. As the student progresses he may go back to the piece and fill in the missing bits.

In regards to my way of teaching, have a look here where it has been discussed in some detail:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2260.msg19270.html#msg19270

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[BoliverAllmon]

I know of a teacher who gives a child twinkle twinkle on the first day. Now, that doesn't sound like much, but he teaches it to them and also teaches them how to transpose it. So therefore the child can after a 30 min lesson ask his parent to hit a note and from that note play twinkle twinkle. Kids think this is the coolest thing. Just an idea.

boliver

[ptmidwest]

Thank you, Bernhard, for getting me going on this idea again (I used to do this with students, and somehow wandered off that track), and thank you all for so many  pointers.
This is a great source of easier pieces!

[i_m_robot]

Vladimir Rebikov – The Bear (Scary piece with an ostinato left hand at the lowest register of the piano. Not much of a melody, but it really sounds like a heavy bear walking in the forest).

Greatest piece EVER!!!!!

[i_m_robot]

dont know if anyone has mentioned them but satie has some very easy works

forgot the names but self was using as sghtreading practice

[maryruth]

Erik Satie, "Children's Pieces for Piano"--there are nine songs in this collection.

Also,
William Bolcom, "Monsterpieces"

Robert Starer, "Games with Names, Notes and Numbers"

[ptmidwest]

I am having little success locating these pieces: 

-----the Adair Hans C. Andersen pieces (even through Oxford University Press)

----- the Joe Gargiulo music ("Cory's Space") (website doesn't seem to be active, and even the phone in Washington is disconnected).  The other website either can't get me to his music, or I haven't done it right, probably the latter. 

----- So far, only a little luck on "The Delicious Book":  The Max Champ book is apparently out-of-print, but several university libraries in the U.S. have it...maybe my library can request it of one of them.

------Are  "Autumn" and "Tale"  (by S. Maykapar )  found in a collection perhaps?

-----I have learned of three other people through the Internet who were also looking for the Morovsky Prelude in b minor; they disappeared in 2001, as far as I can tell.  Perhaps they absconded with the prelude they found!

-----Margaret Fairlie's "Images" is highly regarded.  It came out of Galaxy Music Corp. in Boston, and was noted in Piano Quarterly 1964, but I don't know what has happened to Galaxy.

                                 If these are not too hard to get, and not especially expensive, I'd LOVE to use them.  Material new to me that has Bernhard's recommendation is awfully hard to pass up.      In the meantime, I'm making great use of many of these other ideas. 

Any leads, anyone?  Thanks!

[berrt]

John Cage: 4'33"

[Toivot]

Bartok's Mikrokosmos?

In my opinion Mikrokosmos is nothing more than a mass of notes which are random next to each other, mixed with sharps and crazy rhytms

[key of c]

I'm really surprisd anyone would say that the Sonata Pathetique is one of the easiest ones to use.
Would you care to share a video of you teaching this to a beginner?

[allthumbs]

Greetings Bernhard

There are several threads in the forum about the most difficult pieces ever written for piano.

But what about the opposite?

What do people reckon is the easiest yet great piano piece ever written, a piece that in spite of being easy is a delight to play and listen to?

Consider the following situation: you’ve just got a complete beginner who knows zilch about the piano or about music. You must give him/her a piece that s/he can learn in a week or less by rote (since s/he does not know how to read music). The piece must be fun and highly musical. Instead of the usual dismal stuff you find in beginners’ books.

Which piece(s) would you suggest?

A good source for pieces that would fit your criteria are in the RCM's (Royal Conservatory of Music - Toronto) Celebration Series - The Piano Odyssey (Introductory Piano Repertoire Book) published by The Frederick Harris Music Co.

https://www.frederickharrismusic.com/fhmcCN/Frederick.jsp

These are all short (less that 20 bars) and could all be taught in a week or less to complete (and not particularly talented) beginners.

Do you have more?

It contains the Bear Dance that you mentioned. Other pieces are;

Off to School
Lollipops' Waltz
Playful Puppy - Linda Niamath (1939-    )

Hush-a-bye - Traditional arr. Margaret Parsons

Hallowe'en Pranks - Boris Berlin (1907-2001)

Starfish at Night
To Fly Like an Eagle
Freddie the Frog - Anne Crosby (1968-    )

Broken Music Box
Tomato the Tomcat
Up a Tree - Stephen Chatman (1950-    )

A 16th-Century March - Willard Palmer and Amanda Vick Lethco

Chimes - Paul Sheftel (1933-    )

The New Dolly Dances - Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)

Tippi-Toes - John Milligan (1942-    )

Hope this helps your repertoire.



Cheers


allthumbs

[nanabush]

I looked at that spreadsheet thing and howcome the only lvl 10 are the chopin preludes?  Is that a mistake?  I understand they are extremely difficult, but higher level than an entire  sonata?  Was that a mistake?

[ptmidwest]

Thanks to Bernhard and allthumbs!  I found many attractive (to students and teacher) pieces in the Celebration Series Piano Odyssey:  Introductory Repertoire from Frederick Harris.  Many are very short. 

 Very easy, but not for absolute beginners, unless you do a little by rote, and that has been a lot of fun.

 Composer Anne Crosby has three pieces in this book which are from her "Freddie the Frog" collection of elementary pieces, also from Frederick Harris.  My very young students are nuts for this book--what a nice break for me!   Before you stop reading because I am talking about the little kids, though, look at some of the pieces with the older students who are elementary level in mind.  Even some cool-but-beginner teenagers are really enjoying these pieces:
                                    To Fly LIke an Eagle
                                    Angelfish
                                    Boogie Woogie Bear
                                      and even--Freddie the Frog!
 The trick may have been to let them hear/see the music before they saw the kiddy pictures.  (And sometimes we change the name of the piece to something more sophisticated.)
   

[dveej]

 Rebikov's The Bear is not that easy...or maybe it's because I make my students dstinguish between staccato, legato, and portato, all three of which occur in that piece. If one were to teach it without insisting on a difference, then of course it would be simpler. But I think a lot of the fun would be gone without the articulation differences.
Turk has a few good ones in his Handbuch fuer Angehende Klavierspieler. They're about eight bars long and pretty good quality. If you try to get the student to do all the slurs and stuff they're a bit detailed, but not too. I especially like Hanns ohne Sorgen and Die Waldhoerner und das Echo.
And there's Poe's Imagine That. Cool, short pieces for beginners, with good illustrations and short poems. The pieces are fun and thematic, and did I mention they're short?

[llamaman]

How about Bach W.T.C. Book 1, Prelude #1?
Or is this too long?

Some others ...
Chopin Prelude A major
Debussy "Girl with flaxen hair"  
MacDowell "To a wild rose"
Prokofiev's Music for Children

Just throwing wood on the fire ...

  Fille avec cheveux de lin!!! That's Grade 9 RCM !!!!!!!

[shoshin]

How about Bach W.T.C. Book 1, Prelude #1?
Or is this too long?

this is VERY easy if your hands are large enough and it sounds really nice in my opinion

[bernhard]

In my opinion Mikrokosmos is nothing more than a mass of notes which are random next to each other, mixed with sharps and crazy rhytms

It is also unbelievably dull.

[bernhard]

I'm really surprisd anyone would say that the Sonata Pathetique is one of the easiest ones to use.
Would you care to share a video of you teaching this to a beginner?

Maybe s/he is Kissin's teacher.

[bernhard]

Greetings Bernhard



A good source for pieces that would fit your criteria are in the RCM's (Royal Conservatory of Music - Toronto) Celebration Series - The Piano Odyssey (Introductory Piano Repertoire Book) published by The Frederick Harris Music Co.

https://www.frederickharrismusic.com/fhmcCN/Frederick.jsp

Thanks for the suggestion. (These books are not easy to come by on the UK. )

[bernhard]

Turk has a few good ones in his Handbuch fuer Angehende Klavierspieler. They're about eight bars long and pretty good quality. If you try to get the student to do all the slurs and stuff they're a bit detailed, but not too. I especially like Hanns ohne Sorgen and Die Waldhoerner und das Echo.
And there's Poe's Imagine That. Cool, short pieces for beginners, with good illustrations and short poems. The pieces are fun and thematic, and did I mention they're short?

Thank you for the suggestions

Do you have a more complete reference for Poe? (publisher?)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Fille avec cheveux de lin!!! That's Grade 9 RCM !!!!!!!

Kissin's teacher attacks again!

[bernhard]

Here is another good one:

Heller - Prelude op. 119 no. 9

Very easy, beautiful piece. Can be taught in a single lesson. The right hand has a pattern of repeated notes to be played alternatively with the thumb and second finger. To start with, the student finds it impossible, and then suddenly it clicks. So, an excellent piece to exemplify the nature of piano difficulties: It looks and feels completely impossible, and yet a couple of minutes of insistence and the difficulty melts and one cannot really understand what was so difficult to start with. The piece can then be referred to whenever the student complains that "I can't do this! It is impossible!"

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[ryno200sx]

Bernhard,
Do you know where a mp3 or a midi file of the Heller piece can be found?
Thanks,
Ryan

[bernhard]

Bernhard,
Do you know where a mp3 or a midi file of the Heller piece can be found?
Thanks,
Ryan

Not as far as I know

(If you find one, let me know).

Apparently no one up to nw seems to have bothered to make a CD of Heller studies, which is a shame since they are amongst the most musical ones.

However, this particular prelude is so easy that basically anyone can sight read it. And it is effective at a range of speeds - from a stately largo top a breezy presto!. So as you skill/technique develops you will be able to play it faster and faster.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[jhon]

Bach's too famous Prelude in C major from WTCI is so easy yet so powerful.  But its Fugue is one of the hardest in the set... 

[llamaman]

I'm not sure people realise that some of the pieces they're saying are really difficult.

Maybe you could try some simplified things like Ode to Joy, Theme from Swan Lake, and some Christmas pieces.


https://www.music-scores.com


That's a great website for finding sheet music.

[ptmidwest]

    "Bump" with Schumann's Traumerei. 

        Although it is not so easy to play very, very well, it is very satisfying to students to play, especially older ones, I think because it is simply so beautiful.

[llamaman]

I'm not sure people quite get it. Traumerei is grade 8 RCM.

[ptmidwest]

Okay.

Chopsticks. 

Familiar to all, easily taught by rote, fun to play, must keep time cuz it's a duet, can improvise off it, and it's a cinch to make up funny words to sing along.

[asyncopated]

Has any one mentioned Kabalevsky yet?

Anyway, how about this

Opus 27 --  Thirty Children's Pieces for piano

They are quite a lot of fun.

[chadefa1]

This thread is really old and I am not sure Bernhard is still interested. I have played the piano for only 4 months and am not particularly gifted, nor do I devote a huge amount of time to the piano. Yet I have found a piece that I could learn in a few hours, and that I still enjoy.
It's probably most appropriate for adult beginners though. It is called "Romance sans paroles" (probably a translation) by Spindler. I have no information whatsoever on the composer, but will be happy to email you the score if you are interested.

Thomas

[cfortunato]

Burgmullers Opus 100 - maybe the Pastorale.

NOT Schumann's Album for the Young  - it's a bit hard.  But how about Tchaikovky's?  The Old French Song?

[burstroman]

Maybe, one of Satie's Gymnopedies?

[cfortunato]

BTW, the guy who mentioned the Pathetique is absolutely right.  The second movement isn't hard, but it's considerably harder than Fur Elise, with the right hand playing both chords and melody.

[notturno]

-  Gnomes Marching by Miriam Hyde, this piece is a real winner it is incredibly simple, easy to memorise and it has the two  things that young students love: crossing hands and it uses the whole keyboard (it also has good pedagogical value). Miriam Hyde is an Australian composer and has written a lot of good works for younger students.

This sounds like a great piece.  Does anyone know where to find Miriam Hyde's "Gnomes Marching?"  I tried Google, ABRSM and Sheetmusicplus.

[cfortunato]

[[Ode to Joy
Minuet in G
Chopsticks
Heart and Soul]]

I really don't see how you could include "Minuet in G" with Chopsticks and Heart and Soul.  It's an easy piece but not nearly THAT easy.  And why include Minuet in G and not Fur Elise or Moonlight Sonata #1?

In the sheet music on this website, there is an extremely easy arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon.  How about that?

[burstroman]

Oscar Peterson's book Jazz 1, especially the first couple.

[m1469]

Other than nursery rhymes, Happy Birthday, and a couple of all-black-notes pieces that I will give to students in their first lessons, I do have a VERY FEW suggestions to add to this thread (hopefully I will be abel to add more in the future).  These will still depend on the students a bit, how old they are and how coordinated they have become through other activities, but here they are :

"Hippity-Hop" by Janet Vogt from Superstar solos 'n stickers (level 1b)  Janet Vogt and Martha Sherrill Kelsey

"Waterfall Jewels" by Janet Vogt (from same book mentioned above)

"A Little Joke" by Dmitri Kabalevsky
(for the slightly more coordinated)

Study nos 1,2 from Czerny's "50 Little Studies" (leaving chords out if not able to cope yet)-- not exactly profoundly impressive to the listener, but fairly catchy for the students, and enjoyable for them to play (I also use these for early transposition around the circle of 5ths)

I'll be back


m1469

[dorie]

Bernard ,

Thank you so much for this most wonderful thread.  As a newish player this thread has provided much relief from insipid method books.  I suspect my teacher will roll his eyes if I ever say again, "well I was on piano street...."

m1469 -  and thanks for reviving this on occasion,  your dedication is an inspiration.

Dorie

[ail]

Bernard ,

Thank you so much for this most wonderful thread.  As a newish player this thread has provided much relief from insipid method books.  I suspect my teacher will roll his eyes if I ever say again, "well I was on piano street...."

m1469 -  and thanks for reviving this on occasion,  your dedication is an inspiration.

Dorie

Even though this was begun so long ago, I want to answer. I'm 30 now, but I remember some of my early days of playing, 22 years ago. My teacher had me play through "John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course" and I went up to book 3 before I had to quit.
There are some songs I remember quite fondly from there, and I believe they could fit in Bernhard's description, though I have no longer the right notion of the difficulties.
So, I'll simply tell you those I liked most to play at the time (it may be hard to remember the names):

Princess Walts (the last one in book 1)
one of the chimes, still in book 1 in G
one about indians in book 3 (but that may be too difficult for Bernhard's request)
The Giant Steps (octaves mostly, book 2 or 3).
Skip to my Lou(?)
Kangaroo dance (4 hands)

I remember very distinctly that in my 2nd book (I guess) there was precisely Chopin's Op 28 no. 20 edited as a Duet for Teacher and Student, and I was completely thrilled when I saw the author's name at the corner of the page. I was radiant when I asked my teacher "This was composed by Chopin?" and was eager to play it, but she almost sniggered when she said "yes". I think she meant that what I was meant to play there was not chopin, I mean, that I shouldn't think of me that highly if I could play the Student's part because, obviously, that wouldn't the whole Prelude. Or she just didn't like it.
Anyway, I remember I was pround, nevertheless, because it was Chopin.

I'm afraid I'll have to go through my books again. I no longer remember much, but I know there were some more I liked a lot (and I even can remember the pictures in the pages) but whose names I don't remember.