Moonlight Sonata Piano Tutorial - Early Intermediate

Get the sheet music here.

Is Moonlight Sonata easy to play on piano?

This beloved composition is not an easy feat for pianists. Technical skill, kinesthetic stamina, musical understanding, and emotional maturity are all needed for a compelling performance of this masterpiece. 

What piano grade level is Moonlight Sonata?

The first movement is graded around 6 by ABRSM, while the third movement is at level 8 or above. The Royal Conservatory of Music, however, puts the entire piece at grade 10. In practical terms, the first two movements are intermediate to late intermediate in difficulty, while the finale is an advanced-level showpiece.

Can a beginner play Moonlight Sonata 1st movement?

Even the first movement is not recommended for beginning pianists. Mr. Hoffman places the skill level at late intermediate, and you can learn alongside him in this tutorial video. However, if you don’t yet play at this level, you can still learn the easier version presented in this video.
You can also find sheet music for the first movement here:

Late Elementary Arrangement
Early Intermediate Arrangement
Beethoven’s Original

We also have the original second movement here!

What key is Moonlight Sonata in?

This arrangement is in the key of D minor, which has only one flat. This is an easier key to deal with than in the original sonata, which is in the key of C-sharp minor, with a key signature of four sharps.

What makes Moonlight Sonata difficult?

The first movement is a good example of a deceptively easy-sounding piece. It presents the challenge of balancing a melody above a flowing accompaniment, all played by the right hand. This requires the fourth and fifth fingers, the weakest on the hand, to play louder than the stronger fingers. This must also be done while keeping the left hand's deep bass octaves in the background. A good control of the sustain pedal is also needed throughout to facilitate the long legato phrases. Finally, extreme dynamic sensitivity is needed to impart the necessary lament and despair to the music.

The second movement requires two different articulations on the same hand. The right hand must simultaneously play a legato melody above a staccato inner voice. A keen rhythmic sense is also needed to handle the movement’s frequent syncopations.

While the first two movements are within reach of intermediate players, the furious third movement is a virtuoso piece, transforming the calm arpeggios of the first movement into surging, violent outbursts. With a tempo of presto agitato, it is suited only to players with years of proficiency in fast scales, arpeggios, difficult trills, and the relaxation habits needed to play a demanding sonata-form movement with great stamina.

Should Moonlight Sonata be played with a pedal?

Absolutely, especially in the first movement. Beethoven himself indicated that the dampers should be raised throughout, and on modern instruments it will be necessary to have a good syncopated pedaling technique. The pedal foot must be raised and then lowered at the exact instant that the new harmony begins, so as to avoid a gap in pedaling without overlapping and blurring two different chords.

What is the story behind Moonlight Sonata?

Beethoven dedicated his Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor to Giulietta Guicciardi, an Austrian countess once suspected of being the composer's "Immortal Beloved." Dating to 1801, the sonata was finished when Beethoven was already coming to terms with his deafness, and is one of several pieces marking a transition to the more subjective, "autobiographical" expression that came to define Romantic-era music. The first movement is famous for its haunting, wavelike triplets, evoking a scene of gentle waves carrying a boat across a lake at night. This prompted the poet Ludwig Rellstab to dub it the “Moonlight Sonata.” Beethoven himself called it a “sonata like a fantasy,” owing to its unusual sequence of tempos for the three movements: adagio–allegretto–presto. This gives the entire sonata the freer character of a fantasia, accelerating the tempo across the movements until we reach ...