Free Irish sheet music "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in two keys, and as a lead sheet in seven keys. (If you are interested in a fleshed-out piano accompaniment, go to this page where there is a beautiful piano arrangement.)
This lovely melody makes a very nice instrumental or vocal solo, and the words pull at the heartstrings.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
As when the voice-over at the end of Braveheart says "they fought like warrior-poets", this is a song about a warrior, a soldier, a harper.
I love the words the minstrel says to his harp, "Thy songs were made for the pure and free - they shall never sound in slavery!" Then he breaks the strings rather than allow the enemy to capture it whole.
From the movie Black Hawk Down (true story of a horrendous incident in Mogadishu during Bill Clinton's presidency), here is an audio of The Minstrel Boy:
The love of country, and especially the heroism of men embodied in this song, remind me of other Irish songs.
Actually, an awful lot of Irish songs do seem to be about battles for freedom, and DEFEAT. This song is about the faithfulness of a young man, a bard, a warrior-poet, with the final words sung to his harp.
Here is page two of the version with guitar tabs, available (at the bottom of the page) in both the keys of C and D:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Fingerpicking is particularly beautiful and well-suited to this free Irish sheet music.
The key of D is easier for young guitarists, perhaps, unless they have mastered the F chord (to go with the key of C), but even the Bm and F#m chords in the key of D are not difficult with practice.
With Irish music, you are going to end up using the Bm chord pretty early on, so get with it!
If your student wishes to flat-pick the melody in D, this is a good opportunity to explain "2nd position" to him. That is, using finger 1 in fret 2, finger 2 in fret 3, etc.
And here are lead sheets for The Minstrel Boy, in seven keys. If you are interested in a fleshed-out piano accompaniment, go to this page where there is a beautiful piano arrangement.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Listen to this bagpiper! He's great!
The links to the guitar tabs:
Download "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in the key of C
Download "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in the key of D
The links to the lead sheets:
Download free Irish sheet music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of A
Download "The Minstrel Boy" in key of Bb
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of C
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of D
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of Eb
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of F
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of G
All the first-year material I give my beginner students.
Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!
This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This", available as a digital download, tells the riveting story of the time when Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a brave young queen risked her life to save her people.
A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!
This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.
This book is available as a digital download from this site. Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.
It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!
This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.
And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!" They will be spending more time at the piano.
A perfect read aloud storybook
for little boys or girls.
The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young boy with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.
With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.
Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!
Music has such power to move the heart... do you have a story or a question about this music?
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.