- Level: Early elementary
- Pages: 5 pages, 3 pages of music, cover included!
- Style: Triumphant
- Format: PDF instant download
Irish Celebration is an easy, festive piece for early elementary piano students. The flavor is definitely Irish and when you add the teacher duet part, complete with the bagpipe drone, then it sounds like you are in Ireland!
Leveling of Irish Celebration
Irish Celebration is full of nothing but steps and repeated notes. So it’s the perfect piece to give students who are just learning steps on the staff or need an easier piece while they also learn skips. This piece is very easy to play and in a familiar hand position.
This piece comes with a fun teacher duet that is easy to play and complements the student part.
Chosen as part of the NFMC Federated Bulletin!
This piece is included in the one hand piano category of the current 2020-2024 NFMC Federation Bulletin! This piece is not notated to be one handed, but NFMC finds that it can easily be adapted for one hand.
Who will enjoy Irish Celebration
We recently purchased the copyright back from Hal Leonard on this piece which published almost 10 years ago. Read more about this story here. The original artwork (which was chosen by Hal Leonard and composers don’t get a say in covers!) featured a little girl dancing. That was lovely, but I never intended for just girls to play it, so I was devastated when I saw the cover! Of course, we know that boys could have played the piece, but you’d be hard pressed to find any boy who wants to play a piece with a cute little girl dancing on the front!
So I am beside myself with excitement that we can now release this as a piece with an appropriate cover for all beginning students, no matter what their gender!
Other Irish pieces
So many people of all ages are fans of Irish sounding music. And we have a number of pieces that fit that style perfectly:
- Escape from Donegal Castle – this piece comes with both an elementary and an early intermediate notated version. Super fun!
- Be Thou My Vision – One of the top hymns of all time and part of our Celtic Hymn Transformations series
- Brethren We Have Met to Worship (Tune: Holy Manna) – Another part of our Celtic Hymn Transformations series
Hannah Weston –
Love this piece! I’ve given it to a few of my younger students who started piano this year and they love it! We haven’t started the duet side of it yet, but we are really looking forward to it. Thanks, Wendy, for making a piece that is so accessible to students of all ages and abilities.
Jennifer Flores –
At first, I’d thought to use Irish Celebration with my younger students, but found it to be great fun for even early intermediate students to play up to tempo. Who doesn’t enjoy a simple, “Irish” sounding piece to add just in time for St. Patrick’s Day?
Graciela –
I love this piece. My young students have a lot of fun playing the duet and it sounds harder than it is. They like that! 🙂
Ellen Berry –
Every four years when the Winter Olympics are held I run my own Studio Piano Olympics. Each week students are given a different challenge to practise, corresponding to an event in the actual Olympics. The last event is always “Pairs Figure Skating”, in which each student is to prepare a duet part to play with a sibling, parent, another student, or me. This year I decided to give my whole studio (except the tiniest who are not reading music notation yet) “Irish Celebration” to learn, since St. Patrick’s Day falls during the week. The younger ones were to prepare the student part, the advanced students were to learn the teacher part, and I gave my intermediates the choice of whichever part appealed to them. Great fun! Thanks, Wendy, for this delightful little piece!
Betsy Hegwood –
Love it! 5 stars for a fun, manageable, meaningful piece at such an early level!
Melissa Toedtman –
All of the music of yours that I have used has been an instant hit! The clear patterns , lots of pedal, big sound, clever lyrics ( The Booger Song and I Want Some Water, especially) are masterfully composed for maximum fun and learning. Patterns going all over the piano are a great boost to early note readers. I like your use of perfect 4ths which are tricky for little ones to read. I say , ” Brava ” to you and “Thank you” for your fine work. I give your five stars!
Caren –
My 2 beginners really liked the ease and sound of this piece. They learned it quickly too. Another winner by Wendy!!!
Linda –
Five stars for a piece my students absolutely loved playing.