Eine kleine Nachtmusik sheet music for piano

Eine kleine Nachtmusik sheet music above gives a one-hand version of the opening violin melody from Mozart's Serenade No. 13 in G major, K. 525. The notes sit an octave below the original violin line so they stay near middle C on the piano. Letter names appear under the staff; Listen shows where the short silences fall, and Practice waits for you to press each key. The excerpt covers only four bars and adds a long G at the end as a stopping point. The full string serenade is much longer and includes several other parts.

Hear the opening gesture

Mozart begins with a strong G, a short silence, a D, and a return to G. Another short silence and D complete the first bar. Those rests matter: without them, the line can sound like a stream of evenly connected notes. Press Listen once and tap four steady beats. Hear how the G notes claim the main beats while D answers between them. When you try the keys, release G before the rest and wait until the D's entrance; the quiet gap is part of the melody.

The second bar continues G, D, G, B, D before a longer rest. The rise to B and D gives the opening its celebratory lift. The source first violin part plays that high D above the staff; this page lowers all the melody notes one octave, keeping the relationships between them intact. You do not need to jump to the far right side of the keyboard to recognize the theme.

Find the G-major notes

Find middle C, the white key just left of a pair of black keys. D is the next white key to its right, and G is four white keys farther right from C. Begin with G and the D below it. Put a comfortable finger over each and let the hand move when the melody reaches B and the higher D. The third bar introduces C and A, both white keys. The fourth bar uses F sharp, the first black key of the group of three; it belongs to the G-major key signature.

Try the first two bars as one small unit and the next two as another. In the third bar, C and A have the same rest-separated shape as G and D had in the first. In the fourth, C–A–F sharp–A leads to D. That parallel helps you remember the phrase: a strong note, its answer, a higher shape, then a step toward a close. Our long final G gives the short piano exercise a resting point; Mozart's first movement continues from there.

Count the silences

The source is in 4/4, four quarter-note beats per bar. In bar one, G lasts one beat. The following rest and D each last half a beat. The second G also lasts one beat, followed by another half-beat rest and D. Say “one, two-and, three, four-and” slowly to place the two D notes. Bar three repeats that pattern with C and A. Keep the count moving even when the keyboard is silent.

Play softly enough that the keys release cleanly between notes, then try a brighter first G without getting louder everywhere. If the second bar's rise feels awkward, isolate G–B–D and practice those three notes before joining the full four-bar excerpt. For Mozart's contrasting A-minor opening, try Turkish March. The Minuet in G offers another short classical melody in the same key.

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.