12 Irish Piano Arrangements For St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. Get ready to celebrate with one of these dazzling piano arrangements of famous Irish tunes.

All of the arrangements listed here are suitable for intermediate to advanced players, but if you’d like to find an easier version of one of your favorite songs, just search the title on Musicnotes.com and look for arrangements labeled as Beginner Notes or easy piano.

Ballads

“Danny Boy” arranged by William Haviland: This beautiful, melancholy arrangement is full of lush, full harmonies. The left hand features walking octaves and arpeggiated chords that keep the music flowing. You can watch a recording of this arrangement here.

“The Fields of Athenry” by Pete St. John: This lovely well-known song has a simple melody line with an arpeggiated left hand. It also includes a vocal line and guitar chords so you can jam with some friends.

“Down By The Sally Gardens” arranged by David Nevue: This song may technically be a waltz in 3/4 time, but it is slower and more lyrical that most other waltzes. David Nevue’s arrangements are always lovely and enjoyable to play.

Waltzes

“Wild Rover” arranged by Phillip Keveren: Wild Rover is always a favorite, lively Irish tune. This arrangement fits under the hands well. It’s not too difficult, but includes a lot of stylistic details that bring it to life.

“When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” arranged by Jennifer Eklund: This is a beautiful, lyrical arrangement of this well-known song. The arpeggiated left hand gives it a little less of that typical waltz feel.

“My Wild Irish Rose” by Chauncey Olcott: This not-too-hard and not-too-long arrangement has a typical “boom-chuck-chuck” bass line against the right hand melody.

“Molly Malone” arranged by Phillip Keveren: This is a song that works well in a slower lyrical style or in a faster, lively style and this particular arrangement is playful and upbeat. It includes a lot of
jazzed up harmonies and triplet rhythms that make this a really fun and interesting arrangement.

Jigs

“Irish Washerwoman”, traditional jig: This is probably the most familiar Irish Jig and this arrangement works really well on the piano. The texture is thin enough to keep the sound clean and fluid as it rolls along at a quick pace.

“The Butterfly” arranged by David Downes: This song is a slip jig which means it is in 9/8 time. This arrangement from Celtic Woman has some neat harmonies and variations. It shows notation for a variety of instruments throughout, but all of it can be played on the piano as well.

“Garryowen”, traditional Irish folksong: This is a pretty straight-forward arrangement. The right hand has a running melody line while the left hand plays longer chords in a drone-like fashion.

Reels/Polkas

“Finnegan’s Wake” arranged by Phillip Keveren: This is an energetic tune and this arrangement includes a lot of dynamic changes and expression marks that add a lot of excitement and interest.

“The Irish Rover” arranged by Phillip Keveren: This is another lively tune and this particular arrangement does a really nice job of blending staccato and legato. There are some zippy sixteenth notes that run throughout the arrangement that make the music glide along.

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 March 3, 2022