Harry Potter Piano Lesson - Hedwig’s Theme by John Wiliams
This is a quick demonstration of the most memorable theme from the Harry Potter movies. The entire song is longer and has more flourishes with strings and other instrumentation. I cut those out because they’re not memorable or easy to play. Whenever you reduce music, going from a full orchestra down to a piano arrangement, there are choices you have to make about what melodies to keep and which ones to let go. It’s pretty tough if not impossible to be 100% accurate.
The Magic Chords!
Harry Potter’s Theme chords are played in the following order:
Eminor, Gminor, Fminor,
Aminor/E (”Aminor over E” meaning an inversion with E in the bass.)
C#diminished7
Slow it Down:
There is a slow walk through of all the chords :33 seconds into the video…
And then I’ll explain all the chords in the song afterwards.
Chord Variations:
I’m playing the chords in my left hand as block chords; all at once. You could experiment with other styles of chords too! In the left hand, try rolling the chords into 3 separate notes or broken chords played as two separate chunks.
JOHN WILLIAMS ROCKS!
John Williams is the same composer who wrote the music for Star Wars, E.T. Jurassic Park, Superman, JAWS, Indiana Jones and many other famous movie themes… I love the way he puts together chords especially in the Darth Vader theme and Indiana Jones.
Choosing A Register:
The music sounds a lot spookier when you play the Hedwig’s Theme in a high register or up a few octaves on the piano. (To the right side of the piano.)
hi chris !!
Thanks for that advise in your blog !! i learn well ,
i know some piece to play the harry potter theme , but it is so different , but it sounds like how you play it , but now i know the right piece how to play it .. thanks a lot chris marx !!
thank you very much ,
patrick
Hi Chris
It sounds very good, but i think it’s a little hard to follow you. If you have the notes will you then send it to me please?
Nadia
chris will u plzz send me the notes in letters if u have them ty
Dear Chris,
it as the others said that it is hard to follow will you please send me the notes in letters so i can understand better thanks -sam
I concur with the above comments. I would like to have the noted music in order to follow what you are playing. So far everything else is great, just sometimes it is hard to follow your fingers. Thanks Dave
Hi David!
The best way to get the music notes is to go to a music store in your town and buy a book of harry potter songs. The store clerks are usually helpful and can find something at your ability level.
I try to avoid posting the notes for entire songs because I’m pretty sure thats illegal unless money goes to the artist from either you or me. I’ll post short examples of songs usually if I added a lot to it to make my own arrangement, or to try and further explain a specific point.
I had to learn this song by listening to the music on youtube, pausing it, going back and listening again until I got it. I recommend doing the same thing with this video.
If you miss something visually pause it and go back to watch it again! Don’t feel bad if it takes a while, it gets faster as you get more practice.
Thanks!
Chris Marx
Hi Sam,
The best way to get the music notes is to go to a music store in your town and buy a book of harry potter songs. The store clerks are usually helpful and can find something at your ability level.
I try to avoid posting the notes for entire songs because I’m pretty sure thats illegal unless money goes to the artist from either you or me. I’ll post short examples of songs usually if I added a lot to it to make my own arrangement, or to try and further explain a specific point.
I had to learn this song by listening to the music on youtube, pausing it, going back and listening again until I got it. I recommend doing the same thing with this video.
If you miss something visually pause it and go back to watch it again! Don’t feel bad if it takes a while, it gets faster as you get more practice.
Thanks,
Chris Marx
Hi Seamus,
I bet if you do a search for “Harry potter” sheet music online, you’ll be able to find something that is helpful.
Otherwise your best bet would be amazon.com or a local music store to help you find the notes!
Thanks,
Chris Marx
Any chance of you doing a video on how to play the star wars darth vader theme? If so message me.
George
Ummmm
Hi nice video did not really getit but it was good
WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am desperate… those notes are hard to follow and if anyone ANYONE has the letter notes could you please please please send them to me…. i really want them . I have been all over the internet and asked people and i still havent got an answer.
Please help me
Hi Chris,
I’ve seen this on youtube and learned the first part. But I dont know how to watch a video on your website. Please help!
This so cool I follow you completly, your so good(unlike me).
can you also send me the notes in letters if you have them thanks hehe =)
Hi,
I’m looking for the ‘flourishes’/runs for violin that you said you cut out. Do you know where it’d be possible to get them?
Hi Chris!
I wanted to say thank you sooo much! I’m a huge HP fan and I just got a 77 key Casio for my birthday so I’m trying to teach myself how to play. I don’t think it’s hard to follow at all! I can’t read sheet music even though I took guitar lessons for 11 years so the tutorial is good. It only took me about 5 minutes to get the first 3/4 of the song.
Thank you again
Val