10 Halloween Piano Solos For Kids
Kids (and even adults) will have a scary-good time when they learn these fun Halloween piano arrangements!
If you teach piano students who love Halloween, these songs are for you. It can be hard to find Halloween music suitable for kids, so we’ve come up with a collection of not-too-hard, kid-appropriate Halloween songs that your students will love learning.
1. “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold, arranged by PianoSSam
The original version of this song features swing rhythm and some jazzy harmonies. This version is stripped down to just the melody and stays in a small range centering around Middle C. It is also notated with note names printed in each note for students who may not be strong readers yet.
2. “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman, arranged by Samantha Hayes
This song is mostly the melody only, with just a handful of harmony notes included. The melody is mostly in the treble clef, with occasional notes that dip down into the bass clef.
3. “Fright Night!” by Jennifer Eklund
This original composition by Jennifer Eklund is suitable for late beginners or early intermediate students. It is in a swing style and has catchy repeating motives in each hand.
4. “The Addams Family” by Vic Mizzy, arranged by Chrissy Ricker
This version of “The Addams Family” is very manageable for beginner piano students who can read notes near Middle C position. It is written very simply with easy rhythms.
5. “Little Toccata in D” by Jennifer Eklund
This easy piece is based on Bach’s famous “Toccata and Fugue in d minor” that is often played around Halloween. This version uses simplified rhythms. The notes are based on several simple patterns that are often repeated in various octaves. This would be an easy song to teach by rote if the notation seems too challenging for a beginner.
6. “Funeral March” by Chopin, arranged by Lois Chen/PHianonize
This simplification of Chopin’s “Funeral March” has an easy ostinato left hand pattern for most of the piece. There are a handful of chords and octaves. If your student has trouble reaching those, they can always be simplified to a single melody or bass note.
7. “Fear Elise” by Jennifer Eklund
Here is another original by Jennifer Eklund. It uses the familiar opening melody from Beethoven’s “Für Elise” but has some other spooky-sounding motives as well.
8. “Halloween Main Theme” by John Carpenter, arranged by Kate Maystrova
This piece might look tricky to a beginner, but a lot of it is the same repeating pattern that could easily be taught by rote. The left hand is written as octaves. It could be simplified to one note if a student can’t reach an octave yet. Or, it would be fun to play as a duet where one student plays the bass octaves and the other student plays the treble part.
9. “Ghostbuster’s Theme” by Ray Parker, Jr., arranged by Chrissy Ricker
This arrangement of “Ghostbusters” is great for beginners because the left hand stays in a five-finger position starting on G and is in a five-finger position starting on C with a couple of small shifts outside of that position. The rhythms are also written in a way that is easy for beginners to read.
10. “Trick or Treat” by Jennifer Eklund
This is a fun little piece based on the common Trick or Treat chant that kids sing on Halloween. The right hand mostly stays in a five-finger a minor position while the left hand plays chord shells. There is a short contrasting section of scampering eighth notes in a simple pattern.
This post was written by Megan, piano teacher and author of Pianissimo: A Very Piano Blog. Visit her website for more piano related blogs for teachers, parents, students, and all things piano.
Published on October 7, 2022