Sometimes the best part of watching a film is not the dialogue, or beautiful cinematography, it is the soundtrack. Often, this means famous piano soundtracks and iconic compositions.
Though many movies use full orchestras or even electronic scores, often the score can be played entirely on the piano. Movie soundtracks on piano are sometimes just as fulfilling and beautiful as an entire symphony, with a sense of emotion and minimalism.
Many symphonies include piano solos anyway, so a piano will be suitable to play the music of a great film and the catchy sections that everyone knows.
A lot of the time, movie themes share a lot of music in common with other compositions, as you can see in the piano sheet music, the same groups of chords and melodies and simple rhythms appear in a movie soundtrack, may also crop up in the most sophisticated piano music. While there are some potential variations in style and structure, a piano player will use the same skills playing a solo piano piece with a pop stylin g , as they would playing a movie soundtrack by John Williams.
Most people agree that a good score is crucial to move you emotionally or transport you into a different world, a place that seems to exist completely outside of the universe we live in. The best film music can make or break a film, and set the mood for the whole movie.
Many of these movie soundtracks’ piano can be played solo, and the best theme songs to play on piano can actually be just as fulfilling to play by yourself as playing with a full orchestra in the studio.
Film music needs to invoke emotion and feeling, like all the best movie themes do. If you look at the main theme of a film like Star Wars, as much as some people may not like Sci-Fi, you cannot argue that John Williams created the piano sheet music for one of the most brilliant movie soundtracks of history so far. The number of melodies he used are memorable, both simple and full of character, meaning that any pianist can create the same feeling of life and hope and wonderful excitement just by playing a few simple notes on the page.
Many films have soundtracks that are great for beginners to learn, and whether the score is a full ballad or just a beautiful melody, through Skoove’s learn piano app you will have access to plenty of iconic movie soundtracks on your iOS or Android device. Let’s look at the best piano movie soundtracks, and learn how to play piano by utilizing some of the best piano movie theme songs.
Playing a famous movie soundtrack on the piano doesn’t require you to have the films in front of you, or to even have the full score written down in front of you. Many film scores actually have such a strong melody that as soon as you start playing the music from the film, the piano sheet music and the main theme are all you need. Think of movie soundtracks like Jurassic Park and all of the memorable melodies from Star Wars or American Beauty.
Good soundtracks have such a strong main theme that once you begin playing it on piano, people will recognize it. This is true whether it is a score by John Williams, La Valse D’Amelie, or a film soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, Joe Hisaishi or Alan Silvestri. When playing the best piano soundtracks you will be transported into the world of the movie.
In this list, we’ve selected the piano soundtracks from movies that will pull you in, and for a budding pianist, these movie soundtracks on piano will teach you more about playing your instrument and moving your audience.
Tips for playing the song
Though not all soundtracks can be quite as great as these, there are hundreds or even thousands of notable soundtracks. Movie fans will have loads jump to mind, including those by Italian Composer Ennio Morricone, or a favorite of many beginning pianists, the La La Land soundtrack for piano.
There are of course lots of different pieces of music to explore from movies, not just from the Western world, one of the most famous would be “ A River Flows In You ” by South Korean pianist “Yiruma”. The world of movies and the worlds that are created by composers and symphonies are at your fingertips as long as you have a foundational knowledge and a reliable place to get your sheet music, and play the music that you want to hear in the world.
With Skoove, you’re able to play any of the different themes you hear and then translate what you see on the page into the world, and bring yourself back into the world of the film.
Author of this blog post: Alvin Shipp
Alvin Shipp is a Multi-Instrumentalist Composer, Performer, Producer, and Educator from Portland, Oregon currently based in Berlin, Germany. He’s worked extensively in the USA and Germany, has released Over 15 Albums. He has been teaching upper-level students for over 15 years, and currently lives as a Freelance Composer, Mixing & Mastering Engineer and Teacher.