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Classical songs are truly a thing of joy and it is a great feeling to have classics in your repertoire. There are a lot of beginner piano songs that you can learn on your journey and I am going to break them down below.
Learning the classics from famous composers such as Mozart, Beethoven or Chopin sounds like a hard task, however, there are some great choices. I have put together the songs that I learned in my journey that were fun, engaging, and easy to grasp. I hope you enjoy the list below.
One thing to note is I recommend having at least a year or two of practice before diving deep into these and expecting to learn them easily.
Best Classical Songs For Beginner Piano Students
Solfeggietto – Bach (Amazon Link)
This is a total show-off piece that is truly a fun and great song to learn. Kids love to learn this because it’s simply fun to play and makes them look really good. I would say it is on the harder end of the beginner spectrum for sure, but a lot of it is repetitious.
Solfeggietto is the first song that I was determined to lose so I could show people my progress when I was about 12 years old. Take your time with this and learn it at a very slow tempo first. Don’t try to even attempt to play it where it should be until you can get through it at slower tempos.
Chopin’s Prelude in e minor Opus 28 No 4 ( Amazon Link)
Chopin’s Prelude in e minor opus 28 No 4 is one of the classics that instructors teach to their students. I personally loved learning this and think it is truly a beautiful piano song that all beginners to intermediate players should learn.
The chords in this pull at your heartstrings as it has beautiful suspensions in the chords. I believe pieces like this are perfect for students because they are fulfilling when you learn them. This Prelude by Chopin is also in an easy key to play in with e minor.
I personally love this key because I love the way chords and melodies sound in this range. The key of e minor only has one # and that is f#. This is why I say it’s an easy key to play in for new students.
Prelude 1 The Well-Tempered Clavichord – Bach
Prelude 1 by Bach is without a doubt a go-to for basically every instructor. It has a simple left hand that consists of playing two fingers that vary on notes. It’s an easy pattern as it’s only two fingers basically doing the same rhythm.
I’ve always thought this song sounded really cool and I personally had fun learning it many years ago. This is a great piece to learn the dynamics to as well as you can.
The right hand in this does a lot of arpeggios that get you really used to doing these in pieces. I’ve always enjoyed pieces like this as it’s fun to cruise the piano doing them.
Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven
This is such a perfect song to learn for students who have a year or two of lessons. You could learn this song by ear since it follows a very similar rhythm pattern in your left hand. Moonlight Sonata is an extremely popular song that all instructors that I’ve ever had know.
The intro is iconic as most everyone knows the first few notes. It immediately grabs you and makes you want to hear more. If you have noticed a trend, I always have liked the emotional and beautiful classical pieces. I feel like the beginner to intermediate players like learning the romantics as well over faster pieces.
Clair De Lune – Debussy
This means “moonlight.” Now, you’re probably thinking this is not a beginners song. You are correct. I have found a simple rendition of this classic piece on Youtube. I really think this is a beautiful piece that you or your kids can play at family get-togethers.
Clair De Lune is a piece that you can slowly learn and put on the back burner until you get better. This was a piece that I had learned the first page of and then just went on to other songs because I wasn’t ready to continue on. As you progress, the song will be right there waiting for you to come back to it.
What To Do
Try to master these classical piano songs. Don’t learn them with poor technique and then move on to the next. I think it’s important that even if you learn it sloppily in the beginning, you come back to it and really master it. This is what makes a pianist great in the long run, mastering the classics.
If you’re looking for other fun songs to learn, I recently put together a list of some great Italian songs to play on the piano. These are all fun songs & you will be surprised at some of the songs on this list.
What Not To Do
Don’t get discouraged when trying to learn the classics. It is very easy to feel like music is impossible at times so just remember that with time and commitment you can learn songs you never thought possible.
Make sure you don’t rush through the sheet music just because you want to say you learned it. Many beginner pianists make this mistake and they learn bad fundamentals in the process. It’s not a race so make sure you’re taking your time and learning the dynamics as you go.
With every new piece, you will learn new things and ways around the piano. The more songs that you put in your repertoire, the better.
Conclusion
Classical music is a beautiful thing and one of my favorite things is that you can put time and effort into them and eventually learn most songs. You may not master them immediately, but with hard work, you can get yourself there.
There are a ton of classics that I haven’t mentioned. What songs do you like to teach your students or which have you learned that I left out? Let me know in the comment section below.