The Star-Spangled Banner sheet music (easy)
John Stafford Smith (1750–1836), Level 3 · Beginner, 1:03
Key facts
- Level
- Level 3 · Beginner. Estimated from the notes (0 of 8 on our difficulty score)
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Key signature
- No sharps or flats
- Length
- 33 bars, 2 pages
- Playing time
- 1:03
- Notes
- 139
- Range
- G2 to G5
Source and licence
Licence of the source: Public domain melody.
Source: Site-owned easy edition. Melody: The Star-Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith's "The Anacreontic Song", words by Francis Scott Key), John Stafford Smith (about 1773 (tune, "The Anacreontic Song"); 1814 (words, Carr's Music Store, Baltimore)), public domain, rights checked against Wikipedia: The Star-Spangled Banner. Left hand written for this site.
Source: Wikipedia, from the edition Carr's Music Store, Baltimore, 1814, the earliest surviving sheet music (as set on the Italian Wikipedia article). The tune here is as sung today, written out for this site..
Playback sounds: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0); Upright Piano KW by Gonzalo and Roberto of FreePats (CC0 1.0); Fluid R3 GM by Frank Wen and contributors (CC BY 3.0). Full sound credits.
How to play The Star-Spangled Banner (Easy)
The national anthem, with the tune in your right hand and one bass note at a time in your left. It is a big tune that climbs high, so take it a line at a time.
Where your hands go
Right hand: the tune starts on G4, drops to middle C (C4) and climbs to C5 in the first two bars. It reaches G5, its highest note, in bars 17, 18 and 30.
Left hand: one held note for each chord, mostly C3 and G2, with D3 at the end of bars 3, 11 and 23 and in bar 27, and F3 in bar 26.
It is in C major and 3/4. Bar 0 is the pickup: two eighth notes for "O say". The only black key is F♯4, in bars 3, 11 and 23.
The tricky bars
Your practice plan
- Right hand alone, bars 0 to 8. The second line, bars 8 to 16, is the same tune.
- Right hand alone, bars 16 to 24, then bars 24 to 32.
- Left hand alone, the whole piece, counting three beats on each held note.
- Hands together, a line of eight bars at a time, at half speed.
- Play it through with Listen on, then bring the Speed up to a steady, stately pace.
Watch out for
- Playing F4 instead of F♯4 in bars 3, 11 and 23.
- Rushing the dotted quarter E5 in bars 5 and 13, so the eighth note comes early.
- Running out of hand at the top. Move the hand up before bars 17 and 30 rather than stretching for G5.
Power-up: press Loop, tap the first and last of the tricky bars, and they repeat until they feel easy. Hands in Options lets you practise one hand at a time. New to the notation? Start with how to read keyboard staff, then how to practise piano.
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