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This audio are 10 songs listed for easy piano playing by ear. Songs included are:

1. Allouette
2. Down in the Valley
3. Down in the Valley
4. Frere Jacques
5. Shall we gather
6. Camp town
7. Swing low
8. Three blind mice
9. Twinkl twinkle little star

More tips on how to play piano popular and modern piano

In some ways smoothness is even more difficult to master in arpeggi than in scales, as in them the intervals necessitate wide jumps, which have to be negotiated. I will take the arpeggio in the common chord of C major in the right hand, to illustrate first the method which have found very successful with students.

The idea is the same as in the scale. The problem which presents itself is how to smooth over the jump between G and C. On the accompanying diagram I attempt to show, by the small lines underneath the notes, how the finger which falls just before the thumb (in this case it is the 3rd, on G) is raised from the wrist and inclined towards the direction to which the hand has to proceed.

Showing the 3rd Finger raised wrist for passage of thumb

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This 3rd finger should be placed upon the note exactly one and three-quarter inches length away from the edge of the key towards the back of the keyboard, and the thumb should fall underneath it upon C, just the length of its own nail away from the key edge, that is about a quarter of an inch. Thus :

Arpeggio. C major. Right hand ascending, showing relative positions of the thumb and finger.

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Coming down the position is reversed, as follows : The thumb falls upon the note at the one and three-quarter-inch position from the edge of the key, when it is lifted up by the wrist movement, and the 3rd or 4th finger, as the case may be, then falls over the thumb on to the note below, about one-quarter inch from the edge of the key. Thus :

Arpeggio. C major. Right hand descending
(starting from right of diagram), beginning with 2nd
finger on E, so as to show relative position of the
fingers used.

The movement of the wrist makes for smoothness at the jump and helps to prepare the hand for the next position. The principle is similar in both hands as in the scales, only reversed in the left;  that is to say, when the left hand ascends the thumb is lifted by the wrist and placed one and a quarter inches from the end of the key, while going down it is the 3rd or 4th finger which assumes that position, the thumb falling on the key at the quarter inch from the end of the key, as in the ascending right hand arpeggio.

Arpeggio. C major. Left hand ascending
(starting from left of diagram), beginning with the
thumb on C, so as to show the relative positions of
the other fingers.

Arpeggio. C major. Left hand descending
(starting from right of diagram), beginning with the
4th finger on E, so as to show the relative position of
the fingers used.

Exactly the same rules apply in all the varieties of arpeggio playing.

It is absolutely imperative for students who wish to acquire any proficiency in pianoforte playing to practise a good amount of scales and arpeggi every day as given at the end of this book, for these difficulties are the A B C of the piano, without which no one can get on. Therefore, he who starts his work regularly and thoroughly every morning with a course of scales and arpeggi will gradually find a fine easy technique coming to him and a mastery over the keyboard which will be of inestimable advantage to him when he starts investigating the treasure house of pianoforte literature.

The fault of most players who come to me is that their preparation before attempting to attack a great work has not been sufficient. And for this the teacher must sometimes be held responsible to a certain degree, because, naturally desiring the pupil to make quick progress, he gives him Liszt’s Rhapsodies and Beethoven’s greatest Sonatas to play, after only a few months of  perfunctory study.

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The students also have a natural desire to astonish their parents and gratify their patrons, and often to justify the spending of a good deal of money on their musical education.  Most of them rely on so-called musical feeling, charming touch, and other elusive qualities, which have possibly been ” enthused ” over by their supporters ! Thus they fritter away valuable time in chase of shadows, instead of settling down under a severe and accomplished master to genuine hard study of scales and other exercises.

I am constantly seeing advertisements by teachers of “how to play the piano in five minutes by correspondence!” But I know by my own experience that after thirty years of continuous study there are still many problems in piano-playing that I cannot solve.

THE proper position for the performer is to take a seat before the middle of the key-board on a piano of seven octaves ; this will be from  and at such a distance from it, that the arms can. conveniently reach the farthest keys of the instrument, and can also be crossed, and move with entire freedom in both directions. The music-stool should be firm and secure, and so high that the elbows may be a little above the level of the key-board. Both feet ought to be placed on the pedals the right foot on the loud, the left foot on the soft pedal.

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It is essential that the performer should see at once that the seat is convenient and firm, thus avoiding a future shifting or moving about, which produces unevenness in the performance, and a corresponding uneasiness in the listener. A good position at the piano is as important as a good way of sitting at the desk for writing. The movements of the arms ought to be graceful and easy ; the trick of spreading out the arms in such a way that each elbow protrudes like the apex of a triangle is very ugly and objectionable. All contortions of the face, any tendency towards grimacing, raising the eyebrows, frowning, shaking the head, or any other tricks, should be carefully avoided : the same thing maybe said of the habit of swaying the body to and fro, either from side to side, or backwards and forwards or shrugging the shoulders. A natural, unaffected, and graceful appearance, united with the correct expression and intelligent performance of a good piece of music will greatly aid the effect produced.