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Easy Piano Music That Is Not Kid's Play

© Jana Cole

A common complaint among adult piano learners is that beginning piano music sounds "babyish". A great alternative to the elementary teaching books designed for children is the easy piano music of Bela Bartok (1881-1945). Born and raised in Hungary, Bartok incorporated the sounds of the Hungarian folk music he heard all his life in his music. Bartok actually spent a great deal of time collecting and transcribing folk songs. They contain wonderful sounds and sound very different from the style of the "western children's song," to coin a phrase, that we americans are used to hearing.

Bartok wrote orchestral and chamber music as well as piano music. He started writing music at age 9, and he wrote his first symphony at age 22. At age 26, he began writing what might be his most famous works, his string quartets. If you have never heard them, they are well worth listening to.

Getting back to piano music, his Mikrokosmos is a series of six teaching books for the piano. I believe these pieces are well-suited for adult piano learners, because they use complicated harmonies and very interesting rhythms. In no way could they be characterized as babyish, boring or predictable.

In his pieces you will find interesting textures to play, not just simple scales and chords. Even the simplest pieces seem like a wonderful little piece of abstract art. You can find a small sampling of his music at

http://www.fineartinc.com/bb/bartok.htm
(Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see the words "Music by Bela Bartok")

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