Piano solos for children

[El Ornitorrinco]

I was picking up my little brother the other day from his friend's house (Austin is five), when the friend's mom said, "Hurry up and eat, you're going to be late for piano!" This was met with groans. "We don't want to go to piano class," the three boys said. So I told them my story.

When I was about their age, my mom made me learn piano. I hated it, I fought against it; at the end of four years of this I had the skills of a first year pianist. My mom saw that all was futile, so she let me pick a different instrument, and thus I took up saxophone.

Now, however, I no longer am being forced to learn piano, so I thought of picking it up again, but that meant facing my mom. My pride wouldn't allow me to do that. Then I got into video game remixes, heard some rather classical-sounding pieces that I greatly enjoyed and got into classical music. I heard amazing pieces for the piano that I wished I could play, and so I got back into piano.

My friends picked up piano at the same time as me, but now they really have skills, where as I'm having trouble getting my left and right hands to coordinate. I don't want these kids to be first level pianists on their fourth year, so I ask this of you, help me find piano solos that appeal to children (Three kids, ranging from 5-9) so that they will understand how beautiful an instrument the piano is and want to be little Bladiators.

So far all I have is some Bladiator and that amazing piano piece from Windwaker, which I will probably remove because I tested it on my little brother and he walked out of the room. All suggested pieces will be tested on my little brother before put on the CD to assure kid-friendliness.

So please suggest any piano solo, so long as I don't have to buy it. =D

All the best,

El Ornitorrinco

And the list:

To be tested:

Mazedude - Day of the Tentacle Pianist

Jiggin Jon T - The Flood Plain

Uboichi - The Wolf of the Opera

Xenocross - Cursed Piano

Reuben Kee - Ryu for Four Pianos

Spekkosaurus - The Trial in Concert

kLuTz - 600 A.D. in Piano

Tested and Good:

Bladiator - Chopinesque Kirby

Bladiator - Grand Valse Mario

Bladiator - O, Say Can Yoshi

Tested and Bad:

That amazing piece from Wind Waker

Pieces that I might put on CD for the kid's mom:

Kevin Lau - Aeris Lives

The Wingless - The Scarlet Halls

Xenocross - Cursed Piano

Reuben Kee - Ryu for Four Pianos

Zoola - A Link to the Piano

[Katsurugi]

I will recommend kLutz's 600 A.D. remix from Chrono Trigger. However, it gets amazingly difficult once he steps it up. But the first 2 pages should be pretty easy to pick up. Plus it sounds pretty.

[Gollgagh]

Try Spekkosaurus' The Trial in Concert (click).

[al3xand3r]

You realize this works better if they are acquainted with the games, right? Either get them acquainted with the games, and tell them they can play those tunes if they want to learn, or see what games they are playing/enjoy, and try to implement those tunes (if any) into the CD.

[MajLink]

Yeah i have had the exact same scenario. I was forced to play piano as a kid and hated it. Now as i have become older i have been trying to get back into it, simply becuase i heard the amazing piano compostions here. I am not that bad, but still most of this stuff is out of my league. I have been looking though the internet to see if i can find dumbed-down versions of some of my favorite songs from classic games (ie. Most songs from Chrono Trigger, anything from Final Fantasy ect.) If anyone has a suggestion as to where i should look i would really apperciate it. Thanks guys.

[El Ornitorrinco]

Ah, it seems I didn't say what I thought I did so clear. I do not intend the children to actually play these songs, I just want them to hear them and say, "Ah, I wish I could play that." However if there was sheet music to be had for them, then that would be twice as cool, I admit.

Thanks for the suggestions. Added. =D

I will test as many on my brother as I can later today when he gets home from kindergarten. All children have ADD, so we'll see how many we can get through.

You realize this works better if they are acquainted with the games, right? Either get them acquainted with the games, and tell them they can play those tunes if they want to learn, or see what games they are playing/enjoy, and try to implement those tunes (if any) into the CD.

Their mom is like, mega Nazi. I highly respect her and she runs her family well, but I definitely disagree with her at some points. Like no video games.