John Thompson’s Modern Course for the Piano + Interactive Sheet Music

John Thompson’s Modern Course for the Piano, First Grade: two books of simple songs to start the piano from scratch, with every piece in MIDI & MusicXML Player.

Level 0 – 12 books · 50 songsInteractive sheet music

Practice for free in MIDI & MusicXML Player

PDF not available: this method is protected by copyright

Listen before you play

“Silent Night”, from Part II, in MIDI & MusicXML Player. Hit play and listen.

Open in the full player →

What’s inside

Contents of the Thompson Method

Organization of the pieces by difficulty

The First Grade of the Modern Course for the Piano is a set of two beginner books, with 24 and 26 songs. As a rough guide, this is their difficulty:

Difficulty	Book	Open in the player
Level 0 – 1	First Grade – Part I
Level 0 – 1	First Grade – Part II

First Grade – Part I

The Land of Music
Patterns
Run, Stream
Traffic Police
The Swans on the Lake
The Knife Grinder
Sugar Paste
The Man in the Moon
The Party
Sparrow, Sparrow
The Clown
The Cuckoo
Climbing the Wall
The Bells
Wading Through the River
Climbers
Chords
The Harp of the Fairies
Little Heavenly Star
Let’s Row
Little Spring Song
Fallen Leaves
Dutch Dance
The Coronation

First Grade – Part II

Woodpecker
The Knight and the Lady
Mozart Theme
Little Waltz
The Mucaro
Long live the Champion!
The Cuckoo Clock
The Singing Little Mouse
The Biscuit
The Peanut Vendor
The Merry-Go-Round
Spanish Party
Hunting
To Celia
The Frog Chorus
The Sleigh
The Little Shepherdess
Evening Bells
Village Dance
From Days Gone By
Silent Night
Keyboard Frolic
The Train
The Skyscraper
Dublin Party
Bald Juan

About the method

John Thompson and his Modern Course for the Piano

The Modern Course piano method (link to Amazon) is a set of several volumes written by the American musician John Thompson for those who are starting out in the world of the piano.

In it, Thompson explains how to play the piano in a correct way. It offers tips on how to develop the technique and the style adequately. It also includes a collection of simple exercises and basic-level songs to help students develop their technique.

Tips are offered to cover all the basic aspects of the piano, from hand position to reading musical notes. It is an excellent tool for those who want to start from scratch.

Here are the two main volumes: First Grade Book – Part I and Part II.

Thompson Method in PDF

Although all the interactive sheet music for every exercise is available in MIDI & MusicXML Player, this PDF version is currently protected by intellectual property law and therefore is not available for download.

But don’t worry! You have it in full in MIDI & MusicXML Player!

MIDI & MusicXML Player