Top Tunes for Easter

From classic nursery tunes, through to beloved hymns and great works of classical music, Easter, like Christmas has some great music. Luckily, here at 8notes, we have you covered at Easter time, with a great selection of seasonal sheet music. Here are some of our favourites! Continue reading...

Who owns the song Happy Birthday to You?

Happy Birthday to You, perhaps not surprisingly, is consistently one of our top five pieces here on 8notes. We have versions for 50 instruments as well as a cool Happy Jazzy Birthday arrangement by composer and 8notes founder David Bruce. Whilst the piece may seem familiar, however, its history is full of surprises and even the occasion whiff of controversy... Continue reading...

Top Tunes for Seeing In the New Year

Coming after the musical richness of Christmas, New Year may seem like the tuneless poor relation. New Year, however, has plenty of tunes of its own. We’ve collected together our favourites so you can see in the New Year in musical style! Continue reading...

O Holy Night - the surprisingly controversial Christmas Carol

If you are looking for a carol with angelic voices, heartwarming sentiment and, above all, a great tune that works toward a tremendous climax, O Holy Night has it all. We're not surprised that it's the most played and downloaded carol here at 8notes. But intriguingly, the piece has been on the receiving end of a fair share of criticism and controversy over the years. Continue reading...

The Music that Inspired Star Wars

We celebrate Star Wars Day (‘May the Fourth be With You’) by looking into the pieces that inspired John Williams’ magnificent soundtracks for these space operas. Continue reading...

Winter Music: Ten Classical Pieces for the Coldest Season

The days are short, the weather's awful. Time to put another log on the fire and warm the soul with our seasonal round-up of winter classics.

1. Rimsky-Korsakov: Orchestral Suite from The Snow Maiden

Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden (1881) is one of the composer's best-loved pieces, full of colourful musical set pieces inspired by an endearingly zany Russian folk tale (this must be the only opera in which the heroine ultimately melts). The four-movement orchestral suite drawn from the opera evokes winter at its jolliest, featuring twittering birds, a stomping march, and the energetic "Dance of the Tumblers", depicting the acrobatic feats of a troupe of street performers. Continue reading...

The Ultimate Christmas Piano Playlist: Top 10 Revealed!

It's that time of year again, when holiday music fills the air and brings cheer to all who hear it. And what better way to get into the spirit than with some festive piano music? If you're a pianist, you may be looking for some festive pieces to add to your repertoire. Here are the top 10 most popular Christmas pieces for piano as viewed by visitors to 8notes.com, counting down from ten to one.
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