🎻 10 pieces of classical music kids love
Start with music that tells a story, gets faster, or makes you want to march. These ten pieces grab children from the first listen. Most have a Peabody listening map that shows what to listen for, moment by moment.
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg)Ours
Starts quiet and sneaky and gets faster and louder until it explodes. Children always ask for it again.
William Tell Overture, the finale (Rossini)Ours
The galloping horses. Impossible to sit still to.
The Can-Can (Offenbach)Ours
Fast, silly and full of kicks. Perfect for a dance break.
The Entertainer (Joplin)Ours
Ragtime piano with a bounce. Many children know it from ice-cream vans.
The Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa)Ours
The march with the piccolo solo that flies over the band.
Für Elise (Beethoven)Ours
The most famous piano tune in the world, and one that older beginners dream of playing.
Ode to Joy (Beethoven)Ours
A tune simple enough to play on a recorder, from one of the biggest symphonies ever written.
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart)Ours
Bright, quick and cheerful: a good first piece for strings.
The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky)Ours
A whole ballet of short dances, each with its own character. The Sugar Plum Fairy's sparkle is a celesta.
The Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns)Ours
Fourteen short pieces, each an animal: lions roaring, a swan gliding, an aquarium glittering.
More music lists
- 10 easy songs to learn first on any instrumentThe ten easiest songs for a child to learn first on piano, ukulele, recorder or xylophone, ranked by how few notes they use, each with a song sheet in any key.
- The 10 best first instruments for kidsTen good first instruments for kids, from the voice and hand drums to piano, ukulele and recorder: what each is good for, and how to try one before buying.