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.
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.
Gymnopédie No. 1: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): F#4 F#4 F#4 F#4 F#5 A5 G5 F#5 C#5 B4 C#5 D5 A4 F#4 F#4 F#4 F#4 F#4 F#4 F#5 A5 G5 F#5 C#5… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Gymnopédie No. 1 on the virtual piano
Here are the Gymnopédie No. 1 virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first two phrases of the melody, which comes in at bar 5. 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: 22 notes
5YT5LMLWNG
5YT5LMLWN
L5C
▶ 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
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: 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.
Download the Gymnopédie No. 1 MIDI and sheet music
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.
