Gymnopédie No. 1 · piano sheet music & MIDI file
The free Gymnopédie No. 1 MIDI file downloads here, sheet music PDF included, with a piano preview to hear before you take anything.
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.
Two chords rocking back and forth, one floating melody, 282 notes in total: one of the lightest MIDI files in our piano library. A Joplin rag packs ten times more. When someone tells us they want to play a real piece instead of exercises, this is the file we hand them first.
One warning though: slowness hides nothing. A clumsy bass note or a late chord sticks out immediately because there's nothing else happening to cover it. Satie marked the score "slow and painful". We can't promise painful, but slow you'll have to earn.
What you'll be working on
- The left-hand leap from bass note to chord, kept soft
- A legato melody while the left hand keeps bouncing
- Holding a very slow tempo steady (the hardest tempo there is)
- Quiet dynamics that still project instead of hiding
Playing Gymnopédie No. 1 on piano with Pianovera
This is the ideal first full piece to learn in Pianovera: Wait mode lets you sight-read it end to end in one sitting, then you watch your accuracy climb day after day on the home dashboard.
Open Gymnopédie No. 1 in Pianovera: notes fall toward the keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out.
Try Pianovera for freeDownload the Gymnopédie No. 1 MIDI and sheet music
Two files are waiting for you: the Gymnopédie No. 1 piano MIDI file (3 KB, opens in Pianovera or any MIDI player) and the Gymnopédie No. 1 piano sheet music PDF (165 KB, printable). Both come from the same engraving: what you read on the score is exactly what you hear in the preview.
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 Gymnopédie No. 1 hard to play on piano?
We rate it beginner: 282 notes over 2:21, spanning A1 to A5. The first thing to work on: the left-hand leap from bass note to chord, kept soft.
Where can I get the sheet music for Gymnopédie No. 1?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (165 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 Gymnopédie No. 1 MIDI file really free?
Yes. Erik Satie died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1888) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.