Category: Beethoven Free Sheet Music

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September Free Sheet Music: Maple Leaf Rag

As we inch closer to the turning of the seasons, I thought I would share my early -intermediate arrangement of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag with you! My Maple Leaf Rag arrangement is my #1 selling sheet music on Sheet Music Plus, so I thought you might like to play it too! Remember it will only be available for free through August 2022, so print it today! The arrangement is two pages long, and covers Joplin’s main theme:

PRINT Maple Leaf Rag

The arrangement is from my Songs of the Seasons: AUTUMN sheet music book series, available on Amazon. Here are demonstrations of this arrangement in two tempos:

Maple Leaf Rag- SLOW TEMPO (play at this tempo as you are learning the notes and rhythms)
Maple Leaf Rag- FAST TEMPO (reach for this tempo after you feel comfortable with the notes and rhythms)

For advanced pianists who would like to play the Maple Leaf Rag in its original form, download here:

Maple Leaf Rag original sheet musicDownload

Happy September piano friends! Autumn is my favorite season, and even though we don’t have a lot of deciduous trees in southern California, we do see some Japanese Maples on certain streets, and we just love them! I’m looking forward to cool evenings, fall holidays, wearing sweaters, making soups, reading books by our fireplace and getting cozy at the piano.

Have you been playing the Moonlight Sonata from my July and August blog posts? If you have been enjoying the slow, haunting beauty of Beethoven’s Adagio theme, I hope you are ready for some perky, uptempo Scott Joplin this month 🙂

This month I find myself with two openings for piano students! If you are looking for an online piano teacher for yourself or someone else, email me at upperhandspiano@gmail.com for details.

I hope you have a lovely September. Are there some pieces you like to revisit or books you like to reread in Autumn? Share your favorites with us or give us an update on your piano progress in the comments below. With love and music, Gaili

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August Free Sheet Music: Moonlight Sonata pt. 2 (transposed to E minor)

As promised I have posted Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (transposed to E minor) pt. 2 on my website today. Have you been playing pt. 1 during the last month? How is it going for you? Do you feel ready to move on to the second half of the piece? If not, no problem, print it today and start it whenever you feel ready. Practicing pieces in small sections is the best way to gain deep learning.

PRINT Moonlight Sonata pt. 2

Remember, I post my free sheet music for just 1 year, so print today! After a year you can purchase this arrangement on Sheet Music Plus.

In case you missed it, you can visit my July post to print Moonlight Sonata pt. 1, watch a demonstration video for pt. 1 of this arrangement, or print the original sheet music. Here is a demonstration video for today’s pt. 2, pages 3-6 I count it off in case you would like to play with me:

In other news, this week I am presenting as well as attending seminars at the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy, an online conference for piano teachers. It is inspiring and stimulating to share techniques, ideas and stories with other piano teachers! At this morning’s session one presenter shared this gorgeous poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, an abolitionist, suffragist poet, born in 1825:

Let me make the songs for the people, Songs for the old and young; Songs to stir like a battle-cry  Wherever they are sung.

Not for the clashing of sabres, For carnage nor for strife; But songs to thrill the hearts of men  With more abundant life.

Let me make the songs for the weary, Amid life’s fever and fret, Till hearts shall relax their tension,  And careworn brows forget.

Let me sing for little children, Before their footsteps stray, Sweet anthems of love and duty,  To float o’er life’s highway.

I would sing for the poor and aged, When shadows dim their sight; Of the bright and restful mansions,  Where there shall be no night.

Our world, so worn and weary, Needs music, pure and strong, To hush the jangle and discords Of sorrow, pain, and wrong.

Music to soothe all its sorrow, Till war and crime shall cease; And the hearts of men grown tender Girdle the world with peace.

With that I bid you a you a wonder-ful August, and enjoy tonight’s full moon! 🌝🌝🌝

With love and music, Gaili

Check out my website and my piano method and song books for adults over 50:

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July Free Sheet Music: Moonlight Sonata (transposed to E minor!)

Many piano players bemoan the fact that they would love to play Beethoven’s gorgeous Moonlight Sonata, except for the fact that Beethoven wrote it in C# minor, which has 4 sharps 🤦🏽. That just seems like too much to take on for most of us. So I took up the challenge and transposed the entire first movement to E minor.

At first I tried transposing it to D minor, but then realized that if I moved it a bit higher, I could avoid moving the right hand into the bass clef here and there, which pianists find confusing. As a result, some of the notes are very low on the treble staff, so feel free to write the letter names next to (not above or below) the notes you haven’t yet learned. Note that this is not a simplified arrangement. All of the original notes are present, I just made it a bit easier to read and play.

(Click here if you would like to read about how Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una Fantasia – “Sonata in the manner of a fantasy” – became known as the Moonlight Sonata.)

You will also notice that I made the notes a bit bigger than the original; the result is that it is 6 pages instead of 4. Sorry about that! You can tape them together and fold them into a book. I like to spread out the first 4 pages on my music stand, then have only one page turn to the last 2 pages.

I have posted the first 3 pages today, and below I demonstrate the first 3 pages in a Youtube video. Remember that the fingering I wrote is just a suggestion, mostly taken from the original. If you find a fingering you like better, be sure to cross mine out and write yours in. I will post pages 4-6 (for free) next month; be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

*Click to print: MOONLIGHT SONATA in E minor*

* My sheet music is only available for free for a year. So print it today! *

Click below to print: The ORIGINAL Moonlight Sonata (for the purist!)

Moonlight Sonata original (with added bar numbers)Download

How is your summer going so far? Have you been able to get yourself to the bench to play your piano? It’s not too late to start a mid-summer challenge to play the Moonlight Sonata in E minor. Remember, playing the piano is one of the best ways to boost your brain function, and doing something creative like playing a beautiful piece has also been shown to promote good health and a sense of well-being and to lower stress. Hope you enjoy playing the first half, and be sure to subscribe so that you get an email when the second half is available in August (for free of course– every month I give away free sheet music, and never charge or spam you). Leave a comment and let us know how you’re doing with this piece, or tell us what else you are playing. Are you struggling with a piece or not understanding something in your music? We invite piano-related comments and questions any time!

Thanks for subscribing! I hope you get a lot out valuable information from my blog! Check out my old posts on the right ➡️ to find more free sheet music to print, and lots of practice tips and music theory print-outs. With love and music, Gaili

Check out some of my music books! Piano instruction books for adults over 50, seasonal songbooks, and wide-ruled manuscript books:

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Happy 250th Birthday Beethoven!

This week we celebrate what would have been Beethoven’s 250th birthday! How wonderful that Beethoven’s body of music continues to thrive to this day, globally beloved for its unique, varied and profound beauty.

I have been in search of a Beethoven piece to arrange for you that would uplift us all, and help us to celebrate this important date; these days we need all the celebrations we can get! I decided upon a piece that not everyone will know, but I believe everyone will enjoy. As far as I can tell, this piece has never been adapted to solo intermediate piano, so you might be amongst the very first to play it!

Click to listen to Beethoven’s CHORAL FANTASY (finale)!

Isn’t it a wonderful piece? Some say the Choral Fantasy sounds a little like Beethoven’s Ode to Joy theme (listen at 1:25), but Choral Fantasy was written first, so perhaps Ode to Joy sounds a little like the Choral Fantasy! The two pieces are also similar in that they both deliver a message of universal love. Here is the English translation (from German) for the Choral Fantasy lyrics:

Graceful, charming and sweet is the sound of our life’s harmonies, and from a sense of beauty arise flowers which eternally bloom. Peace and joy advance in perfect concord, like the changing play of the waves. All that was harsh and hostile, has turned into sublime delight.

When music’s enchantment reigns, speaking of the sacred word, magnificence takes form. The night and the tempest turns to light: Outer peace and inner bliss reign o’er the fortunate ones. All art in the spring’s sun lets light flow from both.

Greatness, once it has pierced the heart, then blooms anew in all its beauty. Once one’s being has taken flight, a choir of spirits resounds in response. Accept then, you beautiful souls, joyously the gifts of high art. When love and strength are united, divine grace is bestowed upon Man. [Translation from Wikipedia]

How amazing that back in 1808 Beethoven spoke of the power of music to elevate grace and to bring people together, just as we keep rediscovering today.

I have arranged Choral Fantasy for EASY and INTERMEDIATE piano, and put them all together for you, as a theme with variations. The first page is the main theme as sung by the choir and is fairly EASY; page 2 is a variation on the theme as played by the clarinets, and it is INTERMEDIATE; and page 3 is a variation on the theme as played by the violins and it is also INTERMEDIATE. I took the melodies, harmonies and chords directly from the orchestral score.

The double bars on each page indicate that you can end the piece there, if the successive pages feel too difficult to play (you can try playing them again next year!)

Click DOWNLOAD (below) to print Choral Fantasy (finale):

Choral-FantasyDownload

You can also print the gorgeous Sonata Pathetique Adagio (intermediate) arrangement I posted here two years ago:

Sonata PathetiqueDownload

To print more free sheet music including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, please visit my website!

If you are joining us for the first time, welcome! My name is Gaili Schoen and I post free sheet music at the beginning of each month, arranged for EASY and INTERMEDIATE piano. I also post practice tips, worksheets and flashcards – just take a look at the archives to the right of this post. The free sheet music I post on my website is only available for a year, but when I offer downloads like the ones above, they stay put.

I also love to write music books. I have created a set of piano instruction books called Upper Hands Piano: A Method for Adults 50+ to Spark the Mind, Heart and Soul, as well as an easy-to-learn and brain-enhancing format for younger adults called Piano Powered, all available on Amazon. But mostly I like the idea of creating community here on my blog, arranging free piano music, and supporting adults who are taking piano lessons. Please subscribe above if you would like to be notified of my monthly free sheet music and practice tips. I never spam or share email addresses, ever.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season, and that you will tip your hat and play a tune to the magnificent Beethoven, one of the greatest and most influential composers of all time.

Please leave a comment below and tell us what you are playing, or what issues related to piano lessons you might like to see me address in the future. I’d love to hear from you!

With love and music, Gaili