Spinning Song

What do I do for work? Play music.
What do I do for fun? Play music.

Spinning Song was composed by Albert Ellmenreich (1816-1905). Who??? I don’t know… Evidently one-hit wonders are not just a modern phenomenon. Every several years or so I rediscover this piece while searching through my sheet music collection. Throughout this time I’ve “made the song my own” as they say on American Idol, exaggerating the tempo changes and overemphasizing the dynamic changes. The 8 measure diatonic main theme in F major bookends a tension building chromatic 8 measures over C at the beginning and ending of the piece. For 16 measures in the middle of the piece, the melody shifts to the left hand and the tonal center becomes ambiguous before settling into 8 measures in A major which I’ve decided sound best played at about half speed. This amount of variety packed into less than 2 minutes makes it my favorite song to play on the piano. What’s your favorite piano song?

A popular assignment for intermediate level piano students, it’s something I can relearn in an one evening rather than many weeks. I’ve turned it into a duet with piano students: me playing the right hand and them building left hand strength and technique playing the perfect fifth interval (f to c) and the octave interval (c to c). If you or someone you know is interested in learning Spinning Song:

Download the sheet music for free HERE!

Download an easier version of the sheet music for free HERE!