Grieg "Morning Mood" - Easy Piano Arrangement

Edvard Grieg: "Morning Mood" from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46

PDF Sheet music, piano solo
Simple Solutions piano arrangement by Henrik Kilhamn

Approximate Grade: 5-
Scale 1 - 8: Beginner - Advanced

Key: Easy key D major + Original key E major included

There are few other pieces that catches the freshness and still excitement of the morning sunrise as this one. It’s originally written as incidental music for the Norwegian play Peer Gynt and made popular as two orchestral suites. Grieg also produced piano versions of the movements himself, both for piano solo and duet, which are very much playable for a concert performance. The solo version is not terribly difficult but uses very wide chords. In this arrangement they are usually concentrated to three notes instead of four, which makes it easier to read longer sections with more flow. The original key is in E major with the middle section modulating to F major, but the heavy use of chromatic mediants then take quite sharp turns to G-sharp major and C-sharp major chords. In the Easy Key transposed version I have simply split the difference: we start in D major and have the middle section in E flat major, and the chromatic mediants turn out less intimidating.

This arrangement is included in Simple Solutions Volume 4 - An Orchestral Orchard (Intermediate ~ Grade 4-5)

Also, check out:
Simple Solutions Volume 1 (Elementary ~ Grade 3)
Simple Solutions Volume 2 (Intermediate ~ Grade 5)
Simple Solutions Volume 3: Nights & Dreams (Intermediate ~ Grade 5)

ABOUT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

The Simple Solutions series came from the idea that even not-professionally trained pianists should be able to enjoy the feeling of playing great music from the piano repertoire with their own hands. This is possible with some clever rearranging of the musical material: reducing the range of independent voices and jumps while preserving core ideas of melody and rhythm. In this easier setting, you will instead have enough time on your hands (literally!) to bring the music to life and care about those aspect that often otherwise come second: phrasing, articulation, dynamics, and balance. This will help you develop your over-all musicality, which will be of great value in all other pieces as well.

In the end, if you feel ready for a challenge and want to go forward with proper piano studies that requires years of practice – you can always move on to more advanced arrangements or original piano compositions. They will always be there. In the meantime, these arrangements will bring you close to the same enjoyment as the full versions, because all musical ideas are carefully conserved.

They are just a little bit easier.

The arrangement comes in two versions: both transposed to an easier key signature as well as kept in the original key.

The "Easy Key" transposed version is recommended for the most comfortable Simple Solutions experience. It's much easier to read notes without many sharps or flats, which frees up a lot of attention for all other musical aspects solely at a cost if you have perfect pitch. The version in original key serves the purpose of constituting a proper stepping stone if you wish to continue with the original version / more advanced arrangements in some capacity later on.