Wooden Heart, a free Valentine song in three keys for vocal duet or piano, with an easy-to-play arrangement for beginning pianists.
This cute traditional German tune (Abschied, or Muß i denn) is great fun to sing! See the bottom of the page to download the new version for beginner piano students...
This melody is very familiar, thanks to Elvis Presley. Here he is singing it in both English and German.
Though the tune is traditional (and therefore copyright-free), the English words to Wooden Heart, as sung by Elvis, are not in the public domain, so I have written my own rather corny lyrics (scroll down the page to find the PDF download links in several keys):
If you want to sing the English words that Elvis and others have made famous, just go hunt online for the Wooden Heart lyrics - you will surely find them!
This song makes an excellent vocal duet for beginning voice students who are just learning to hold a harmonizing line.
Because almost all the harmony consists of parallel thirds, the bottom line is fairly easy and predictable. I have used this song successfully at a few music recitals.
Below is a very easy version for beginning pianists of this Valentine's Day song. Add chords to it if you want to make a duet out of it: G, C, and D.
When I was a young girl, this tune was popular, and I LOVED it.
Though it has been many years since then, the melody still holds great appeal, as folk songs tend to do!
Below is another video, sung in German, from Raymond Crooke, who specializes in recording folk songs onto YouTube:
The links to the music:
Download free vocal duet in the key of C
Download Wooden Heart in the key of D
Download printable vocal duet in the key of F
Download free easy piano music Wooden Heart for beginners
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!
Krista:
Thank you thank you thank you!! I have recently started my own vocal studio, and though I have studied music education for years in college, a private studio is a daunting task for me.
Your site has made everything seem so simple and straightforward and has helped me to really get started. It is so comprehensive and well put together. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge so that music can be shared everywhere. :)
Dana:
Good for you! Yes, I know just what you mean. Every new endeavor requires a little bit of chutzpah -- not to say just brazening it out a bit, because you just can't be an expert at anything until you've done it for a while. We teachers have to learn how to teach... and you have to start somewhere.
Danielle:
What a lovely, generous site! Many thanks from a fellow singer and music teacher in New York State.
Loved the inclusion of the video for "The Ash Grove," a song I just recommended to an adult voice student today. I was pleased to be able to send her the link to not only the sheet music, but a charming performance of the song as well.
Do you have a story or even a question about this vocal piece? Share it!
Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...
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.