Right hand
Bars 1 to 4: pairs of notes, G and B, then F sharp and A, G and C, ending on D sharp and B. Bars 5 to 8: the melody alone - B, E, A; A, D, F sharp; G, G, the high E and A - and a long A to finish.
Morning Prayer - Piano Sheet Music (Easy Version, Album for the Young No. 1)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) 1878 G major 3/4 Easy 0:23 Both hands
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Morning Prayer opens Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young like a quiet hymn: slow chords in G major, moving together in both hands, as if sung by a small choir. This easy version gives you the first phrase, bars 1 to 8. The first four bars are exactly as printed, two notes in each hand; from bar 5 the right hand plays the melody alone, and Tchaikovsky's bass and tenor are joined in the left hand. Notice the D sharp in bar 4 and the G sharp in bar 5: two small colours that make the prayer sound more searching. Play it very slowly - Lento - and keep every chord smooth and soft.
How to play it
How to play Morning Prayer on the piano
Left hand
Two notes at a time all the way: G and D, E and C, D and D an octave apart, then the low B and F sharp in bar 4. From bar 5 the bass walks G sharp, A, G, then F sharp, G, A, under a held E or D, climbs B, C, C sharp and ends on D.
Tricky passages
Playing two notes exactly together, softly, without one sticking out. Practise bars 1 to 4 hands separately, listening for the top note of each pair.
Fingering
Right hand: G B with 1-3, F sharp A with 1-2, G C with 1-4. Left hand: G D with 5-1, E C with 5-2. Bar 7: the high E with 5, sliding to A with 2.
Notes
Morning Prayer 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: B B A C B A G A B B E A A D F# G G E A A
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B B A | Si Si La |
| 2 | C B | Do Si |
| 3 | A G A | La Sol La |
| 4 | B | Si |
| 5 | B E A | Si Mi La |
| 6 | A D F# | La Ré Fa# |
| 7 | G G E A | Sol Sol Mi La |
| 8 | A | La |
About the piece
About Morning Prayer
Tchaikovsky wrote the 24 pieces of his Album for the Young, Op. 39, in 1878 and dedicated them to his nephew Vladimir Davydov. They follow a child's day, and Morning Prayer is the first: a short chorale, written in four voices like a hymn.
Tchaikovsky loved the Russian Orthodox church music of his childhood and composed a setting of its liturgy the same year. Morning Prayer has the same calm, chord-by-chord motion, scaled down for young hands.
This transcription: Tchaikovsky, Album for the Young, Op. 39, No. 1 (1878), Schirmer edition (1904): Mutopia Project no. 2032, typeset by Rem Zolotykh, placed in the public domain; bars 1-8, bars 1-4 as printed, then the melody over the bass and tenor joined in the left hand, arranged by GOONS Studio. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
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In the studio
Practise with your MIDI keyboard, record your take, export MIDI
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Questions
Morning Prayer on piano: frequently asked
What is Tchaikovsky's Morning Prayer?
The first of the 24 pieces of his Album for the Young, Op. 39, written in 1878: a slow chorale in G major, like a hymn sung at the start of a child's day.
Is Morning Prayer easy to play?
This version is level 2 of 5. The original is a little harder because every hand plays two voices that must stay smooth; the notes themselves are slow and close together.
How long is Morning Prayer?
The whole piece is 24 bars, about a minute and a half. The first phrase on this page lasts about twenty-five seconds at the slow Lento tempo.