In Upper Hands Piano: BOOK 3 (p. 62-63) there is an arrangement of the popular theme from the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, which he titled Alla Turca. In BOOK 3, I arranged only the first theme, because the music that follows it would have been too advanced for the BOOK 3 student. Recently my sister-in-law asked if I might be willing to expand the arrangement, so I have done just that- advancing the theme a bit beyond my original arrangement, and adding the next three themes. As in BOOK 3, the piece is transposed to the key of D minor (down from A minor) in order to keep most of the notes on the staff (avoiding using ledger line notes). In my arrangements I endeavor to maintain the integrity, excitement and fullness of the pieces, while eliminating a few notes that make the music difficult to play. In Alla Turca I worked especially long and hard on the fingering, testing it on students who are early intermediate players, to build the very best and most efficient fingering possible; but as always, if you find a fingering that works better for you, cross out mine and write in yours. Always try to slow down and keep fingering consistent right from the beginning, for maximum memory retention. You can listen to Alla Turca here, but don’t be disappointed if you are not able to play it this fast!
Due to space limitations, each free sheet music arrangement is on the website for only a year, so if a free arrangement I mentioned in a blog post is no longer available on my free sheet music page, email me at upperhandspiano@gmail.com and I’ll email it to you asap.
Note: I can only keep each free sheet music arrangement on my website for a year. If this title is no longer available on the Free Sheet Music page of my website, please request it by email: upperhandspiano@gmail.com and I will email it to you! Don’t worry, I won’t spam or share your email.
Have any fun plans for Labor Day Weekend? I’m looking forward to picnicking at The Hollywood Bowl for a John Williams concert. It’s a super fun event where the LA Philharmonic plays Williams’ music along with film clips he has composed for. I used to be a film composer, and I just love underscoring, which is the music under the action.
But mostly this weekend I will be working on my next blog post which will be all about…. C H O R D S. I want to give you a comprehensive chord primer complete with flash cards because chords are so fundamental to an understanding of music, especially for pianists. So look for a post in the next week or two about chords. I hope you will find it helpful for yourself or your students.
If you have a second, leave a comment below and let me know if you are a piano student or piano teacher. I can be most helpful if I know who I am writing for. Thanks so much for following my blog!
If you’re new to this blog, I want to let you know that the “BOOK 3” I referenced above is from a series I wrote called: Upper Hands Piano: A Method for ADULTS 50+ to Spark the Mind, Heart and Soul. There are four instruction books plus some songbooks to go along with them. You can check them out on my website, or on Amazon.com (see links below). They make great gifts for the people in your life who would like to “someday” get back to playing the piano, or would like to learn for the first time as an adult.
Have a great weekend! With love and music, Gaili