Free easy piano · Classical
Turkish March, easy piano
Mozart's Turkish March (Rondo alla Turca) in five free versions: an easy and a late-beginner version of the A minor tune everyone knows, the tune and the march together in an easier key, the best-known parts with easier octaves, and the complete original. Play each one here, slow it down or loop a bar, then print the PDF or download the MIDI.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Easy to intermediate, plus the original
- 27 bars · 4/4
- Free: play, print, MIDI
Versions of Turkish March. Each version is a request typed into PlayableNotes. Pick one to hear and print it.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make the A minor opening of the Turkish March easier for my second-year student. Write it in 4/4 with eighth notes instead of sixteenths, keep Mozart's melody, harmony and both repeats, and make the left hand's octave jumps easier while keeping its bass-and-chord pattern.”
What changed
The A minor tune, its C major middle part and the tune again, with both repeats, written in 4/4 with eighth notes.
- Written in 4/4 with eighth notes instead of 2/4 with sixteenths: every note value is doubled, so it sounds the same at the matching tempo, and each bar of the original is one bar here.
- Bars 1 to 26 of the original, with both repeats. The repeats are written as first and second endings (bars 9 and 10, 26 and 27), so the repeat signs fall at barlines instead of in the middle of a bar.
- Right hand: Mozart's notes, including the thirds in bars 6 to 8 and in the C major part. The two grace notes before the B in bars 6, 7 and 8 are left out, and the trill in bar 25 becomes a plain B held for a dotted quarter, then A and B as two quick sixteenths: Mozart's own rhythm at double length.
- Left hand in the tune: as in the original, a bass note and then two-note chords, one per beat.
- Bars 11, 13, 15 and 17: the jumping octaves (C–C–E–E and A–A–C–C) become broken chords within a fifth, C–G–E–G and A–E–C–E, on the same bass notes.
- Bar 8: the left hand's octave on beats 3 and 4 (low B, then the B above it) becomes the low B played twice, so the hand moves down once and stays near the E that ends the phrase.
- Courtesy sharps on notes that are sharp only because an earlier sharp in the bar carries over: the second G-sharp in bars 4 and 21, the G-sharp in the turn in bar 18, the left hand's D-sharps on beats 3 and 4 of bar 22 and its second G-sharp in bar 25.
For teachers: For a student who reads eighth notes and two-note chords and is ready for hands together at a steady pulse. The right hand climbs from the B in the staff to the C two ledger lines above it by bar 5, so practice bars 3 to 5 alone until the jump from E up to B is sure. The left hand's chords sit above the bass staff too, up to the second ledger line (C and E in bars 2 to 5 and 19 to 21, B and E in bars 6 to 8, A and D-sharp in bar 22, A and E in bar 23), so name those notes together before the first run-through.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a simpler version of the Turkish March tune for my first-year student: eighth notes at most, a left hand that only holds long notes, nothing wider than a sixth in either hand, and no ledger lines above the staff. Move it to another key if that's what it takes.”
What changed
The tune, its middle part and the return a fifth lower, in D minor, where the tune never goes above the treble staff, over a left hand of held notes and open fifths.
- Moved down a fifth to D minor (one flat). The right hand never goes above the top line of the treble staff; in A minor it climbs to the C two ledger lines above. The only ledger line is for the C-sharp below the staff, in bars 1, 9, 16 and 18. The middle part is in F major instead of C major.
- Written in 4/4 with eighth notes, like the easy version. The opening repeat is kept; the middle part and the return of the tune are played once.
- Right hand: the melody alone, without the thirds under it in bars 6 to 8 and in the middle part, the grace notes and the trill. It plays two notes together only in bars 8, 16 and 18. The original's staccato dots and accents stay on the quarter notes, so the tune keeps its bounce over the held left hand.
- Left hand: long notes, whole and half notes apart from two quarter notes in bar 23. Open fifths (D–A, then A–E) under the tune, single notes in the middle part, and nothing wider than a fifth.
- Bar 22: the left hand plays B-flat, then D with G-sharp, the same chromatic chord as the original over a simpler bass.
- Bars 23 to 25: the bass walks A–D–G, F–G, A in long notes under the closing phrase, and the trill bar (bar 25) becomes two half notes, F and E.
- Courtesy sharps where a sharp carries through the bar: the second C-sharp in bars 4 and 21, and the C-sharp in the turn in bar 18.
For teachers: For a first-year student who plays eighth notes hands separately and can hold a note in the left hand while the right hand moves. It is a step past a five-finger piece: the right hand changes position about every two bars. Most moves come on a rest or a long note; the one jump without a break is from A up to E between bars 3 and 4 (and 20 and 21), so practice that bar change on its own.
Typed into PlayableNotes“My student wants to play the march part too, but it's in A major with three sharps and she only knows keys up to two. Make an easy version with the opening tune and the march in a key that works. Leave out the middle section and finish with a proper ending.”
What changed
The A minor tune and the A major march, moved down a fifth to D minor and D major, in 4/4 with eighth notes and Mozart's last bars as the ending.
- Moved down a fifth: the tune is in D minor (one flat) and the march in D major (two sharps), instead of A minor and A major (three sharps).
- Written in 4/4 with eighth notes, like the easy version: the original's sixteenths become eighths and its eighths become quarters.
- Order: the tune with its open ending (the original's bars 1 to 9, here bar 1 to the middle of bar 9), the tune again with its closing cadence (the original's bars 18 to 26, here the middle of bar 9 to the middle of bar 17), then the march with its repeat (the original's bars 27 to 35, here the middle of bar 17 to the middle of bar 25). The C major part and everything after the first march are left out.
- Tune: the same notes in both hands as the easy version, a fifth lower. The left-hand chords in bars 14 and 15 are spaced higher, and bar 16 alternates a low A with D–F and then C♯–A above it, so nothing sounds muddy low down. In bar 16 the trill becomes E held for a dotted quarter, then D and E as two quick sixteenths.
- March, right hand: single notes instead of Mozart's octaves, with an octave on the long F-sharp in bars 18 and 22.
- March, left hand: a low octave on each accented beat in place of the quick grace-note arpeggio, then the thumb repeats the octave's upper note. That is Mozart's pitch in bars 18, 19, 22 and 23; in bars 20, 21 and 24 it is an octave above his.
- Ending (bars 26 to 28): the last three bars of the movement, a fifth lower, with single notes in the first bar and three-note chords at the end.
- Courtesy sharps where a sharp carries through the bar: the second C-sharp in bars 4 and 12, and the left hand's repeated G-sharps in bars 13 and 20.
For teachers: For a student who reads the easy version comfortably and can play a left-hand octave. Practice the march's left hand alone first: an octave on each accented beat, then the thumb repeats the top note. The key signature changes at bar 18, from one flat to two sharps, so point out the F-sharps and C-sharps, and that every B is now natural, before the first run-through.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Give me just the famous parts of the Turkish March, the A minor section and the A major march, with a real ending. Keep Mozart's notes and sixteenths, but make the march octaves and the trill easier.”
What changed
The first 35 bars of the original, note for note apart from the march octaves and the trill, then Mozart's last three bars, lightened.
- Bars 1 to 24 and 26: the original, unchanged, with both repeats, the grace notes and every left-hand note.
- Bar 25: the trill on B becomes an upper mordent (a short trill: B–C–B), followed by Mozart's A and B.
- March (bars 27 to 35): the right hand plays the top note of each octave and keeps the octave only on the accented C-sharps in bars 28, 29, 32 and 33 and on the last A. The left hand, with its grace-note arpeggios, is unchanged.
- Second ending (bars 36 to 38): the last three bars of the movement (bars 135 to 137 of the original), with single notes in the first bar and A–E–A in the left hand's last two chords.
For teachers: For an upper-intermediate student who plays sixteenth notes evenly at a moderate tempo and can fit quick grace notes into either hand. The new skill is the march's left hand: the three grace notes should sound like one quick drum roll into the accented A, not three separate notes. Learn the march left hand alone, then add the right hand.
The piece as published: Mutopia Project no. 108, typeset by Rune Zedeler and Chris Sawer.
Original
What changed
What changed
The complete third movement of the Sonata in A major, K. 331, from the Mutopia edition.
- Nothing in the notes: this is the Mutopia edition, checked note by note against its own MIDI file and PDF.
- The opening upbeat counts as bar 1 here, and where a repeat sign falls in the middle of a bar, the bar is shown as two short bars. A printed edition leaves the upbeat unnumbered and counts each split bar once, so the numbers here run ahead: bar 107 here is bar 98 in the Mutopia PDF (the upbeat plus eight split bars).
- Not shown, because the notation used here does not include them: the edition's fingerings, the arpeggio signs on the A major chords in the coda, and the word cresc. in bars 21, 57 and 91. The fz in bars 22 and 92 is printed as sfz, which asks for the same sudden accent.
For teachers: Mozart marked it Allegretto, with no metronome mark. The hardest passages are the right-hand octaves in the march (bars 27 to 35 and 62 to 70), the sixteenth-note episodes from bar 36 to bar 61, the broken octaves from bar 97 and the coda's chords; the version with easier octaves simplifies the first of these.
Want it different? Just ask.
Open this version in PlayableNotes and ask for a change in words: simpler, another key, shorter, bigger notes. The result is a new version you can play, print and share with your student.
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Watch how to ask for your own version · 1 min video
Make your own version
A real request in PlayableNotes, on Für Elise from the free library: say who it’s for and what to keep, and the AI writes a new version beside the original. It shows how to ask for a version of your own; its result is not one of the versions on this page.
About Turkish March
The Turkish March is the last movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in A major, K. 331, headed Alla turca and marked Allegretto. Mozart wrote the sonata around 1783, and Artaria published it in Vienna in 1784, together with the sonatas K. 330 and K. 332. The movement is a march in 2/4 made of sections that keep coming back: the A minor tune that opens it, with a short C major middle part; a loud refrain in A major, with the right hand in octaves over a drum-like left hand of quick grace-note arpeggios and repeated notes; a busier episode in F-sharp minor; then the refrain, the A minor tune and the refrain again, the last time in broken octaves, before a long coda.
The notes of the tune are not hard. What holds students back is mostly the page, and then the speed: the tune runs in sixteenth notes at a lively tempo, the refrain is in A major with three sharps, its right hand is in octaves, and its left hand starts every bar with a quick grace-note arpeggio. The easy and late-beginner versions write the opening section in 4/4 with eighth notes, so it sounds the same and reads like an early-grade piece. The late-beginner version also moves it to D minor, where the tune never goes above the staff.
The tune-and-march version adds the A major refrain, moved to D major so it needs only two sharps. The version with easier octaves keeps Mozart's notation for the first 35 bars, makes only the march octaves and the trill easier, and ends with Mozart's last three bars. The complete original is here too, so you can hear exactly what each version changed.
Practice tips
- In A minor the tune is one small turn repeated on higher notes: B–A–G♯–A, then D–C–B–C, then F–E–D♯–E (a fifth lower in the D minor versions: E–D–C♯–D, G–F–E–F, B♭–A–G♯–A). The Mutopia edition fingers the first and last turns 4–3–2–1 and starts the middle one on 3 (3–2–1–2), so the thumb always lands on a white key. Keep each turn smooth and quiet, then make the note after it short.
- Loop bars 3 to 5 (click bar 3, then bar 5): the jump up to the start of bar 4 and the run that follows are where the tune most often stumbles.
- In the versions with left-hand chords, keep the chords short and lighter than the melody. The contrast between smooth turns in the right hand and crisp chords in the left is what gives the tune its bounce.
- In the march, lean on the first beat of each bar in both hands, like a drum, and keep the other notes short and even. Count it steadily; the march wants to rush.
- Practice each hand with the Right and Left buttons at a slow tempo, then put them together and raise the tempo a few beats at a time.
Questions about Turkish March
Is the Turkish March good for beginners?
The opening tune is, once it is written for the level. The late-beginner version on this page keeps the tune, moves it to D minor and gives the left hand long notes only. The complete movement is an intermediate to advanced piece: sixteenth notes at a quick tempo, octaves in the march, and a long coda full of chords.
Why is it called alla Turca?
Alla turca means in the Turkish style. Music imitating the Janissary bands of the Ottoman army, with their drums and cymbals, was fashionable in Vienna in Mozart's time, and Mozart headed the movement Alla turca. The heavy repeated notes and quick grace-note arpeggios in the left hand of the march are the drums. Rondo alla Turca is the popular title, not Mozart's heading.
Is this the same as Beethoven's Turkish March?
No. Beethoven's Turkish March is a different piece, from his music for the play The Ruins of Athens (1811). This page is Mozart's, the last movement of his Piano Sonata in A major, K. 331.
How fast should the Turkish March be played?
Mozart marked it Allegretto, moderately fast, and gave no metronome mark; pianists' tempos vary a lot. Learn it much slower, and use the tempo slider on this page to step up as it settles. The 4/4 versions count Mozart's eighth notes as quarter notes, so their tempo numbers are doubled: 104 there sounds like 52 quarter notes a minute in Mozart's 2/4.
Why are some versions in 4/4, and some in D minor?
The 4/4 versions double every note value, so the original's sixteenths become eighths. They sound the same at the matching tempo, and each bar of the original is still one bar. The late-beginner and tune-and-march versions are also a fifth lower, in D minor and D major, so the tune never goes above the staff and the march needs two sharps instead of three.
Can I download the Turkish March as a PDF or MIDI file?
Yes, free and without an account. Every version has a Letter-size PDF to print and a MIDI file with the right and left hands on separate tracks.
Source and credits
- Composer
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- License
- Public domain
- Arranger
- PlayableNotes
Every note of the complete movement was checked against the edition's own MIDI file and PDF; no notes needed correcting. The edition's fingerings, the arpeggio signs on the coda's chords and the word cresc. are not shown, because the notation used here does not include them, and the two fz marks are printed as sfz, which asks for the same sudden accent. The edition names IMSLP as its source rather than a particular printed edition, so it is not an Urtext, and a few details may differ from modern editions.
Arrangements and facts checked
