Music for Pianos

 Within the compass of its seven octaves, the piano is capable of reproducing all the features and all the configurations of the finest musical creations.  As a result, pianists have at their disposal the greatest collection of solo literature that has been composed for any musical instrument.  In addition to the standard advanced repertoire, there is an even greater library of teaching literature that can be studied in preparation for this advanced repertoire and its study can greatly influence the advancement of a players musical and technical abilities.  Anyone who seriously desires to extend his or her musical knowledge or create something new can ever devote sufficient thought or study to this resource.

It is the aim of Music for Pianos to introduce the visitor to a minute cross section of this literature.  Some old ones, some new ones and some neglected ones.  It is hoped that players and piano instructors may find pieces that are suitable for study, teaching and performance.

Against this background, I consider that any means of making this literature more widely known and popular has some merit.  The MIDI and mp3 files may only give a vague idea to the listener of how these works should sound and the manner in which they should be played, but it is hoped that even these imperfect digital files will now and then reveal a trace, a little obliterated perhaps, of a composers inspiration.  All MIDI files are free to download and have their mp3 equivalent available for instant download. Links are provided for Sheet Music purchases.

The Music for Pianos MIDI site contains self sequenced MIDI files, MIDI files produced by scanning paper Piano Rolls from the 1920's Jazz era and a selection of live MIDI recordings from the Yamaha e-competition and streaming audio from the Leeds Piano Competition.

Eric Halstead (after Franz Liszt)

1850-1900 Jazz and Popular Music.htm (50)

1900's Jazz and Pop.htm (50)

1910 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1911 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1912 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1913 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1914 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1915 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1916 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1917 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1918 Jazz and Pop.htm (10)
1919 Jazz and Pop.htm (20)

1920 Jazz and Pop.htm (20)
1921 Jazz and Pop.htm (20)
1922 Jazz and Pop.htm (20)
1923 Jazz and Pop.htm (25)
1924 Jazz and Pop.htm (25)
1925 Jazz and Pop.htm (25)
1926 Jazz and Pop.htm (30)
1927 Jazz and Pop.htm (30)
1928 Jazz and Pop.htm (30)
1929 Jazz and Pop.htm (30)

1930 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1931 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1932 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1933 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1934 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1935 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1936 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1937 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1938 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)
1939 Jazz and Pop.htm (15)

1940 Jazz and Pop.htm (5)
1941 Jazz and Pop.htm (7)
1942 Jazz and Pop.htm (8)
1943 Jazz and Pop.htm (3)
1944 Jazz and Pop.htm (6)
1945 Jazz and Pop.htm (5)
1946 Jazz and Pop.htm (3)
1947 Jazz and Pop.htm (3)
1948 Jazz and Pop.htm (2)
1949 Jazz and Pop.htm (2)

• Leeds Piano Competition 2009 (1)
  

Visitors are welcome to download the MIDI files for personal listening but any reproduction on web sites or use for commercial purposes must have my prior permission. Do not link directly from your web page or E-mail to the MIDI files on my site.  If you do use a MIDI file, make sure you copy the file via your server to a folder on your computer (Right click on "play midi" then save to a folder on your computer). 

The music playing on opening this page is Variation 18 of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini to listen to the other 23 variations go to The Rachmaninov Page