Halloween Themed Free Piano Resources

It's a treat to pull the seasonal games and music and rediscover a few I've forgotten.  I organized this list of free Halloween-themed music and activities posted by creative bloggers that I've enjoyed using in my studio for the past several years and added a few of my own as well. 

My new tradition is to invite my students to do the "Don't Scare Me, Surprise Me! Challenge" every October for our monthly piano challenge.  I introduce some of the activity options below at group lessons and then let them choose their favorites to complete from the challenge page.

Halloween Piano Challenge: Don't Scare Me... Surprise Me!

Each October in my piano studio, I give my students a challenge full of choices.  There are so many fun Halloween-themed resources to use in piano lessons, but rather than just choose one for my students, I let them select from a list of "tricks" to "treat" me with at their October music lessons.  

How to Create Spooky Halloween Music Piano Lab Activity

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How To Create Spooky Halloween Piano Music Level 1 from Rebeccaspianokeys

Watch the elementary tutorial about how to use spooky intervals (minor, tritone) to create spooky music.

Pause as needed to try creating your own spooky music on the keyboard.

1- Left Hand:  C minor Add 2 Broken Chord

2 - Right Hand: Minor 3rd, Minor 6th, Tritone Major 7th

3- Alternate Hands

4- Ending: Alternate C Minor Add 2 Chords Bass Drop

5- Optional: Add Damper Pedal

Halloween Composing Piano Group Lesson Plans with Free Printable

Although getting children to practice piano consistently can definitely be a trick, most of my students consider creating their own compositions to be a treat and they are more motivated to play their own creations.

Piano Student Halloween Music Favorites

I love revisiting seasonal music year after year and sparking piano students' love for music by letting them explore music beyond their method books.

In addition to the free Halloween music I have compiled in leveled folders for students to check out each year, there are a few supplementary books and sheet music pieces that I come back to again and again because students just love to play them. 

Spooky Halloween Piano Improvisations "Moonrise" or "Twilight Zone" inspired by Create First!

Choose one of the improvisation activities below to learn to create spooky-sounding music that is perfect for Halloween! 

Moonrise Improvisation

If you prefer a more calm haunting mystical mood for Halloween, watch the sample improvisation "Create First Moonrise."

Create your own melodies on the black keys exploring some of the options below. 

Spooky Halloween Piano Tunes from Will Baily

 I've been prepping Halloween folders for my piano students and decided to add a few new options in addition to many of the free music Halloween music that are listed on my Free Halloween Piano Resources Page.  When I compiled folders to send home last month with Will Baily's Piano Tunes, so many students came back eager to perform their favorites at group lessons.

Following are a few "spooky sounding" pieces that I'll be adding to their Halloween piano folders although they aren't necessarily made for that holiday.

Leila Viss Halloween Improvisation Jack Activity

Piano Halloween Improvisation Ideas

Watch the 4 sample improvisation videos below from Leila Viss's Halloween Hocus Pocus at the Keys.

Then choose your favorite style, follow the 3 boundary rules, and improvise your own short Halloween piece during piano lab. Choose a fun title that matches the mood of your piece.

Caramel Apple Jack

Grumpy Jackson

Jack on a Wicked Ride

Jivin' Jack Blues

More Posts About Halloween Piano Teaching Resources

Halloween Themed Free Piano Resources

Halloween Piano Challenge: Don't Scare Me, Surprise Me!

Halloween Piano Group Fun

Halloween Composing

Bach Halloween Music Listening Lab

Will Baily Free Spooky Halloween Piano Tunes

Halloween Piano Group Lesson Plans 2023: Late Elementary

This post includes plans for my Halloween piano group lesson for late elementary piano students. 

 Late Elementary Halloween Piano Group Activities

Begin with "Don't Scare Me Surprise Me" student performances with ear training questions for listeners.

Minor Scale Ear Training

Play Songs in Disguise guessing game and demo some examples for the  "Little Lamb Composing" take home activity.

Bach Halloween Music Listening Lab

Bach Toccata and Fugue in d minor for piano

Listen to the first part of this performance. 
1. A Toccata is a piece including fast-moving lightly fingered passages.  When does this song start to sound like a toccata?
2. Do you think the performer is using the pedal? Why or why not?

Bach Tocatta and Fugue in d minor for organ

3.  Bach was a Baroque composer.  The piano was not invented during his life, so his keyboard pieces were actually composed for organ or harpsichord.  How does the organ sound different than the piano?
4.  Different sets of keyboards on an organ are called manuals.  How many manuals do you see on this organ?
5.  A fugue is a piece that usually has 2 or more voices (melodies) that often imitate each other.

The lower "giant keys" played by the feet are called the pedalboard. How many black pedals can you count on the pedalboard?

Does this song sound
A.  Major Throughout
B.  Minor Throughout
C.  Some Major and Some Minor passages

Follow this link to Classics for Kids to hear more Spooky Halloween music!

You can find a simplified piano version at gmajormusic.com

More Piano Teaching Halloween Resources

Halloween Themed Free Piano Resources

Halloween Piano Challenge: Don't Scare Me, Surprise Me!

Halloween Piano Group Fun

Halloween Composing

Bach Halloween Music Listening Lab

Will Baily Free Spooky Halloween Piano Tunes

 

Surprise Me Creative Challenge Links

This post includes online links for some of the activities students can choose from for the "Halloween Don't Scare Me Surprise Me" Challenge Sheet.

Elementary

Music History

Listen to the Classics for Kids Stravinsky Halloween podcast to hear spooky music from composers throughout time.

Composing

Compose a melody to go along with the words from a book.

Sample Book Melody: The Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything

Choose a song you know how to play and disguise it by changing it to minor.

Sample Video:

Improvisation

Watch the 4 sample improvisation videos below from Leila Viss's Halloween Hocus Pocus at the Keys.

Then choose your favorite style, follow the 3 boundary rules, and improvise your own short Halloween piece during piano lab. Choose a fun title that matches the mood of your piece.

Caramel Apple Jack

Grumpy Jackson

Jack on a Wicked Ride

Jivin' Jack Blues

4 Types of Scales Video

Intermediate

Improvisation 

Explore the improvisation videos and activities below to get inspiration for creating your own improv.

Spooky Halloween Improvisation Instructions and Videos

Create First Moonrise

Create First Secret Dance

Create First Twilight Zone

Create First Shark Music

Rhythm

Addams Family Triplety Tap Music Video

Visit the Halloween Bach Toccata and Fugue Listening Lab to hear Bach's famous spooky music and learn more about Baroque-era music styles.

Watch a Pianote "Halloween Song" Tutorial Video to help you learn to play this piece with an unusual time signature.

Halloween Piano Group Lesson Plans 2023: Elementary

This post includes plans for my Halloween piano group lesson for elementary piano students.

 Elementary Halloween Piano Group Activities

Note Naming Video and Game

Review Treble Spaces with Treble FACE Video. Move your hands up in the air on an "imaginary staff" as you chant F A C E.

Free Piano Resources for Halloween Composing and Improvisation

 Every year I love to revisit student favorite Halloween Piano Resources.  I was delighted today to discover and add several new spooky composing and improvisation resources to the list that I am eager to try out with my students.

Halloween Piano Composing Printables

Teach Piano Today just posted this Mummy Music Free Printable that is a  perfect quick win for beginning students.  It centers around middle C hands separate.  I love how students can gain confidence composing by just having to create a short motif to "fill in the blanks." Its the perfect activity for hesitant composers because of the guided process.

Halloween Piano Improvisation Tutorial Videos

I love these leveled tutorial videos for creating spooky music  at rebeccaspianokeys.com for more experienced elementary, intermediate or advanced students. They are perfect for piano lab or at home exploration because Rebecca gives specific step by step tips and instructions for success with musical samples throughout.

Level 1 introduces interval qualities including minor and tritones to be used in a hands separate "conversation" style spooky improv.

Level 2 includes more hands together playing including minor alberti bass style chords.

Level 3 describes the process of adding more expressive details including dynamics, tempo changes, pitch, etc.

Although Forrest Kinney's Create First Improvisation was not created specifically for Halloween, these improvisation video can be used to create music with a spooky Halloween flavor.

Create First Secret Dance Solo

Related Posts: 

Halloween Group Lesson Plans

Halloween Piano Challenge: Don't Scare Me Surprise Me!

12 Days of Halloween Piano Free Printable Rhythm Dictation Activity

Listen to the 12 Days of Halloween.

12 Days of Halloween with Lyrics

12 Days of Halloween Piano Version

Print the 12 Days of Halloween Free Printable.

Can you dictate rhythm patterns below each picture? Hint: 3 Black Cats= 3 Quarter Notes

1-Owl in a Rotten Oak Tree

2-Two Trick or Treaters

3-Three Black Cats

4- Four Skeletons

5- Five Scary Spooks

6- Six Goblins Gobbling

7- Seven Pumpkins Glowing

8- Eight Monsters Shrieking

9- Nine Ghosts a Booing

10- Ten Ghouls a Groaning

11- 'leven Caskets Creaking

12 Bats a Flying

Challenge: Can you change the "12 Days of Christmas" into the "12 Days of Halloween" by transposing it to the Relative Minor key? (Music on "Making Music Fun")

1- Add a flat to the 3rd and 6th notes of the scale.  Remember to check the key signature!

2-Change the melody rhythms to match the Halloween lyrics. For example "Halloween" has more syllables than "Christmas" so change the quarter note in the first measure to an eighth note.

3-For an easier version add primary chord symbols (i, iv or V) above each measure and play as a lead sheet instead of playing the left hand as written. 

Hint: Owl in a Rotten Oak Tree= i-iv-i-V-I

Simple Halloween Improvisation Game for Beginning Piano Students

Piano Teaching Halloween Improvisation

This simple Halloween Improvisation Game for Beginning Piano Students is just one of the sweet fun ways I like to start out piano lessons during fall lessons.

Songs in Disguise: A Music Lesson Activity

How do you spookify a piece?

Name that Tune is a classic game that most kids enjoy, but this month at our Halloween Group Lesson I'll be doing a spooky twist by having my students try this "Songs in Disguise" activity.

12+ Months of Free Music Group Lesson Plans

Planning Piano Group Lessons

Choosing a monthly focus topic for piano lesson not only simplifies lesson planning, but it also helps me ensure that students are getting a well-rounded exposure to musical concepts that can easily be overlooked like composition and ear training.

Halloween Group Lesson: Glow Cups, Candy Corn Notes and Paint Chip Chords

In addition to the Halloween Themed Activities  and Crazy Chord Challenge I've been doing at private lessons this month, we had a Halloween Group lesson including some Glow Stick Cup Tapping, inspired by a recent workshop I attended by Leila Viss.
BUG TRIPLETS
I first introduced the concept of triplets

Ode to Sugar: A Happier Halloween Song Free Printable

Happy Halloween Free Composition!

My daughter composed this "Ode to Sugar" a few years ago for a composition festival.  I just love her creative lyrics as they reveal my own sentiments!  Some students don't like the creepy sad sounding Halloween songs of the season, so I thought I'd share this happy melody in case others kids out there share her sweet tooth as well.

"I know I have a sweet tooth.

It's something I can't hide.

Without my precious sugar, 

I'm empty inside!

From donuts to choc'late

And choc'late fondue.

I really can not help myself,

Delicious sweets I love you!

Oh precious sugar

Your luscious smooth soft feel, 

Not one crumb I could waste

I want you every meal."

 Ode to Sugar Free Printable

Monthly Piano Challenges

Select a monthly challenge below to access the online games and activities that accompany each topic. 

September: Note Naming Challenge