Canon in D piano sheet music: the main melody

The Canon in D sheet music above is the main melody, the line most people know, in D major, with the letter name under every note. It opens with a slow scale falling from the high F# to A, in notes two beats long, and later breaks into flowing quarter notes. There are two black keys to learn, F# and C#, the two sharps of D major; everything else is white keys.

About Pachelbel's Canon

Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was a German organist and composer of the Baroque era. His Canon in D is the first of a pair of pieces, the Canon and Gigue in D major, for three violins and basso continuo. It was written sometime between about 1680 and 1706.

A canon is a piece in which several voices play the same melody, each starting a little after the one before, the same idea as a round like Frère Jacques. In Pachelbel's Canon, the three violins enter two bars apart over a bass line of eight notes, D, A, B, F#, G, D, G and A, that repeats from beginning to end.

The piece was little known for a long time. It became hugely popular in the second half of the 20th century, and a 1968 recording by the Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra is often credited with starting that popularity. Today it is a favorite at weddings.

How to play the main melody

The first two lines walk down the D major scale, so the scale fingering works well:

• First line. Put finger 3 on the high F#, play E with 2 and D with your thumb. Then cross finger 4 over your thumb for C#, the black key just left of D, and continue with 3 on B and 2 on A. The line turns back up to B and C#, fingers 3 and 4.
• Second line. Carry on from D with the same shape: 5 on D, 4 on C#, 3 on B, 2 on A and 1 on G. Then cross finger 3 over your thumb for F#, the black key just left of G, and finish with 4 on G and 2 on E.
• Third line. Your hand is now in D position: thumb on D, 2 on E, 3 on F#, 4 on G, 5 on A. The quarter notes stay close to this position, but they dip once to the low B and reach once up to the B above, so let your hand move a little for those two notes.

Counting in 4/4

Canon in D is in 4/4. In the first two lines every note lasts two beats: count "1 2, 3 4", with a new note on 1 and on 3. In the third line, a new note falls on every beat, and the last F# lasts a whole bar, four beats.

Play it smoothly: the melody was written for violins, which can sustain a tone, so on the piano, hold every note until the next one sounds.

Practice tips

• Warm up with the scale. The opening is the D major scale going down, so play it on the scales page first: choose D and Major and listen to it go up and back down.
• Take the crossings slowly. Practice waits at each key, so you can repeat the thumb crossings until finger 4 finds C# without looking.
• Hear the harmony. The bass line moves through D major, A major, B minor, F# minor, G major, D major, G major and A major. Step through those chords on the chord finder to hear the progression behind the melody.

Once you know it, Für Elise is another classic with a famous opening to learn.

Printable sheet music

Here is the same arrangement on a single page, with the letter name under every note. Open the image to print it or save it; the Print sheet music button above the keyboard prints it too.