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Au Clair de la Lune - Piano Sheet Music (Easy Version)

Traditional 18th century C major 4/4 Beginner 0:38 Both hands

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Au clair de la lune is the song every French child learns, and one of the gentlest first pieces on the piano. Its first line uses only three notes - C, D and E - in a pattern you can memorise in a minute, and that line comes back three times. The third line is the only one that moves, down to the G below middle C, before the opening returns. This easy version keeps the tune in C major in the right hand and gives the left hand a slow C or G, so both hands can play together almost from the start. Listen once, then let Practice mode light up each note for you.

How to play it

How to play Au Clair de la Lune on the piano

Right hand

Thumb on middle C: for the first, second and last lines, C, D and E sit under fingers 1, 2 and 3. For the third line, move the hand down so the thumb is on the G below middle C; the line then walks down D-C-B-A-G with 5-4-3-2-1.

Left hand

The left hand holds C or G below middle C, one note per bar or two in the bars that change. Little finger on C, thumb on G. In bar 12 it drops to the lower G, under the right hand's G.

Tricky passages

The third line: the right hand changes position and plays below middle C while the left hand moves to G and F. Practise bars 9 to 12 hands separately, then together at 50 % with the loop.

Fingering

Right hand, first line: 1-1-1-2 | 3-2 | 1-3-2-2 | 1. Third line, thumb on G: 5-5-5-5 | 2-2 | 5-4-3-2 | 1.

Notes

Au Clair de la Lune piano notes

The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.

Melody: C C C D E D C E D D C C C C D E D C E D D C D D …

BarNotesDo Ré Mi
1 C C C D Do Do Do Ré
2 E D Mi Ré
3 C E D D Do Mi Ré Ré
4 C Do
5 C C C D Do Do Do Ré
6 E D Mi Ré
7 C E D D Do Mi Ré Ré
8 C Do
9 D D D D Ré Ré Ré Ré
10 A A La La
11 D C B A Ré Do Si La
12 G Sol
13 C C C D Do Do Do Ré
14 E D Mi Ré
15 C E D D Do Mi Ré Ré
16 C Do
Chords

Chords in Au Clair de la Lune

The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.

The piece is in C major: all the chords of the key

About the piece

About Au Clair de la Lune

Au clair de la lune is a French folk song from the 18th century. Its words ask Pierrot, the white-faced clown of the old Italian comedy, to lend his pen by moonlight so that the singer can write a word; Pierrot, already in bed, refuses. Nobody knows who wrote the tune, although it has sometimes been credited, without evidence, to Jean-Baptiste Lully.

It holds a curious record. In April 1860 the French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville recorded someone singing it on his phonautograph, a machine that drew sound waves on paper blackened with soot but could not play them back. Researchers turned those tracings back into sound in 2008, which makes this little song one of the oldest recordings of a human voice.

This transcription: Traditional French folk song (18th century); left hand by GOONS Studio. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.

For kids: Au Clair de la Lune by colors, on a rainbow piano that lights the next key and waits.

Moonlit cobblestone French street with a lantern and a piano glowing in an open window
Au Clair de la Lune, as imagined by GOONS Studio (AI illustration)
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In the studio

Practise with your MIDI keyboard, record your take, export MIDI

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Open Au Clair de la Lune in the studio Free online piano
Questions

Au Clair de la Lune on piano: frequently asked

What are the notes of Au clair de la lune on piano?

In C major the first line is C C C D E D, C E D D C (Do Do Do Ré Mi Ré, Do Mi Ré Ré Do). The second line repeats it, the third goes D D D D A A D C B A G, and the last line repeats the first. Every bar is in the Notes section.

What does Au clair de la lune mean?

"By the light of the moon". The singer asks his friend Pierrot to lend him his pen by moonlight so he can write a word; Pierrot, already in bed, refuses.

Is Au clair de la lune good for a child's first piano lesson?

Yes: the first line uses only three neighbouring white keys and the song repeats it three times. Turn on note names (C D E or Do Ré Mi) on the score and the keys, and use Practice mode so the song waits for each note.