Are you struggling with a piece or not understanding something in your music? We invite piano-related comments and questions any time! Leave a comment and let us know how you’re doing with this piece, or tell us what else you are playing. 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). 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. 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. Moonlight Sonata original (with added bar numbers) Download I will post pages 4-6 (for free) next month be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it! If you find a fingering you like better, be sure to cross mine out and write yours in. Remember that the fingering I wrote is just a suggestion, mostly taken from the original. I have posted the first 3 pages today, and below I demonstrate the first 3 pages in a Youtube video.

I like to spread out the first 4 pages on my music stand, then have only one page turn to the last 2 pages. Sorry about that! You can tape them together and fold them into a book. 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. (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.) All of the original notes are present, I just made it a bit easier to read and play. Note that this is not a simplified arrangement. 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. So I took up the challenge and transposed the entire first movement to E minor.Īt 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. That just seems like too much to take on for most of us. 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 🤦🏽.

Moonlight sonata free sheet music easy