Green notes: right hand, blue notes: left hand. Preview played right in your browser with the app's real piano (lightweight version). Inside Pianovera: full multi-layer sound, fingering display and Wait mode.
Almost the entire piece sits at piano or pianissimo, and this MIDI file keeps every original dynamic. That's the real challenge of Clair de Lune: not speed, not stretches, but staying soft, even and suspended for five minutes while big arpeggiated chords roll under a melody that floats.
We rate it intermediate with a caveat. The notes arrive slowly, yet you're managing near-constant pedal, wide chord shapes and a tune that drowns the moment your left hand gets enthusiastic. It's a control piece. Learn it patiently and it repays you for life, because nobody ever asks you to stop playing Clair de Lune.
Clair de Lune: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): G#5 F5 D#5 F5 D#5 C#5 D#5 C#5 F5 C#5 C5 C#5 C5 F#4 A#4 C5 A#4 D#5 A#4 G#4 A#4 G#4 D#4 F#4… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Clair de Lune on the virtual piano
Here are the Clair de Lune virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 8 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar. The melody sounds an octave lower than written, so it fits on the keyboard.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 37 notes
6R;R;
L;LRLQLQ
JQJ;JHJHGHGV
VGVJVDVDSDSZ
▶ Play on the virtual pianoThe piano opens with this piece loaded: the key to play lights up and waits for you.
What you'll be working on
Voicing: making the melody sing above the chords
Slow two-hand arpeggios that cross and overlap
Clean pedal changes that don't blur the harmony
Trusting the slow tempo (nothing here is in a hurry)
Playing Clair de Lune on piano with Pianovera
Pianovera's Scroll mode at 70% speed suits this one perfectly: you see chords coming from far away and have time to shape each hand position. The accuracy graph will tell you quickly whether your left hand is swallowing the tune.
Open Clair de Lune (Suite bergamasque) in Pianovera: the notes fall toward an 88-key virtual piano keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out. On a PC, it's falling notes piano software for Windows, with video export up to 4K.
Free, with no time limit and no ads: 30 pieces (10 in full, 20 in a simplified version), the first 10 lessons and 10 minutes of 3D hands (then 15 seconds per piece). Premium opens all 651 pieces.
The work itself is in the public domain, and this MIDI engraving was placed in the public domain by its typesetter on the Mutopia Project. Use it freely, videos included.
About this piece
Is Clair de Lune hard to play on piano?
We rate it intermediate: 1468 notes over 5:23, spanning D#1 to C#7. The first thing to work on: voicing: making the melody sing above the chords.
Where can I get the sheet music for Clair de Lune?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (126 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, Public domain license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the Clair de Lune MIDI file really free?
Yes. Claude Debussy died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1905) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
