Free Printable Piano Sheet Music
The Lake Pirates
Free printable piano sheet music for early to late beginners. Now with a Middle C arrangement with pirate lyrics!
With a title like "The Lake Pirates," teachers are already ahead! This piece is a great favorite at my studio.
Very easy (year one) to late elementary, three different arrangements. The new Middle C arrangement:
The lyrics definitely help with the atmospheric eeriness of this song - along with a bit of pedaling. But even without the pirate words, there is something spell-binding about the shape of the melody combined with the rhythm.
Listen to a recording made with my iPhone:
Page 2:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
This piece has been the occasion for LOTS OF GOOD NOTE-READING PRACTICE. Plus, it is just FUN. And how often does one get the opportunity to play the very lowest key on the piano?
I have their note reading sheet handy so we can locate all of the many "A's" in this song (all of my students have one of these sheets tucked in their binder, and lately we've been referring to them weekly).
You'll notice that there are "helper" alphanotes in the version above, but I also provide this arrangement with NO lettered notes.
With this song, I sought to make the melody reminiscent of the Lake Town theme in Hobbit 3, The Battle of Five Armies. See a video of that part of the movie, down near the bottom of the page.
I have offered it to many students since I wrote it, and it has been well received. One is a teenager, old enough to be sporting a small mustache!
Another has a tiny brother who is picking up the melody by ear, and was delighted to show me! Yet others are young girls who usually go for PRETTY songs.
Of course my theme is not as COOL as the actual one from The Hobbit soundtrack, but it's still fun, and stirring:
Please scroll down the page for the link to the free printable PDF.
To help students struggling with the initial rhythm of the introduction, I used the words "FRO-do, SAM-wise and AR-a-GORN." That solved some problems with students who just couldn't remember to count, "ONE TWO THREE FOUR-and ONE TWO THREE..."
(Later, when I made the Middle C key of Am arrangement shown at the top of the page, I added the lyrics, "Hark! What's that in the morning fog?" which convey the rhythm very well.)
Please scroll down the page for the link to the free printable PDF.
The left hand of this piece is mostly made up of open fifths, which makes it easy for beginning players to learn.
However, I threw some challenging broken chords in, at the end of line one on page 2, where:
- an open 5th (Eb root chord) moves to
- an interval of a 4th, (a Bb chord over F), then
- up a step to another 4th interval, (C minor over G), then
- stays on the bass note G (while changing to a G major chord).
Additionally, there is the added complexity of the rhythm in this section (a welcome relief after the plodding "tee-tee TAH, tee-tee TAH, tee-tee TAH," etc.). It is a good opportunity for counting practice.
This Cm arrangement of the piece is also available as a "helper notes" version!
Here is a simpler arrangement for younger players, in the key of Dm:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Notice that I have placed fingering, just one time, in the right hand where the melody drops down one step and returns immediately.
I call these "passing over and under the thumb" kinds of fingering "SPIDER SCALES," and my students and I will practice this movement on the piano lid first, and then on the piano keys in a long scale, up and back down.
Here, it is a "spider scale" made of fingers 1 and 2; usually it is going to be finger 3 instead of 2.
We practice like this: 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2 from Middle C to high C. Then back down, 2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1.
Here is the promised video from The Hobbit, movie 3:
I love the music from The Lord of the Ring soundtracks, and The Hobbit music as well, and so do many of my students!
The links to the piano sheet music:
Download Middle C arrangement of The Lake Pirates, with lyrics
Download Middle C arrangement with lyrics, with helper notes
Free printable piano sheet music "The Lake Pirates", the hardest version, in Cm
The Cm version with a few alphanotes to help reading
Download the shorter, simpler arrangement of Lake Pirates in Dm
Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!
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MusicGardenStudios:
This is an absolutely wonderful site!
As a voice and piano teacher looking for enrichment material for beginners, I have found your collections to be comprehensive and purposeful. It is clear that you are a wonderful musician and educator. Thank you!
Louise:
I just wanted to say thank you so very much for your free printable sheet music. I am a piano teacher from the UK who has recently moved to a very remote location in Australia!
I found little to no decent music for my children to learn anywhere close by anyway and this website has been more than helpful as I've scoured around looking for resources. Just wanted to share my thanks! Blessings to you.
Carrie,Voice and Piano Teacher:
This site is FABULOUS.
For all the reasons you explain on the site itself--this is exactly what piano teachers need! (I still need to go look at the vocal music). Wow. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
About the Author
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.
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