There are so many publications of easy piano classics out there that it can be difficult for the beginning pianist to know where to begin. Whether you are looking for paper-based anthologies from the store, or searching for music on the Web, it’s good to have a basic understanding of what you’re looking for. The history of beginning piano, in fact, is quite interesting, and involves many of our most favorite composers.

For Classical and Romantic era composers, a reliable and sometimes necessary way to earn one’s bread and butter was to teach a full schedule of young, budding pianists. Mozart, for one, probably taught his fair share of J.S. Bach’s instructional pieces — which were highly popular even then — but at some point, for such a brilliant and prolific composer, it becomes only natural to compose easy pieces of one’s own to use in piano lessons.

After all, amidst composing great, ambitious operas and symphonies, it’s easy to forget about the basics. Sometimes, even for genius composers like Mozart, working with simpler, more rudimentary music forms is one of the best ways to hone one’s craft. If a composer can’t write simple songs for piano, how can he write complex works for multiple instruments?

This is how we get so many of the easy piano classics still used to instruct beginning pianists. Such music luminaries as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky composed countless works for this purpose, many of which, since their composition, have become well-known as pieces of music, not just as instructional pieces. This is only natural, of course. In my view, such brilliant composers as these were incapable of composing bad or boring music, even if they tried. Beethoven enthusiasts, for instance, will tell you that there is no Beethoven work that is not worth listening to over and over.

Today, many of the easy piano classics that we find in anthologies of all shapes and sizes have their origins in these instructional pieces by great composers. In most cases, each one of them is calculated for a specific teaching purpose, such as left-hand fingering, or learning how to play a certain type of chord or harmony. Often, these original purposes have been somewhat forgotten over time, but experienced piano teachers can usually get to the bottom of a piece’s original reason for existence.

Also, it’s important to remember that many of these pieces have evolved over time, with notes, instructions, and even modifications added by 200 years of heavy-handed publishers. Fortunately, once a given piece has been mastered as published, easy piano classics provide great opportunities for students to practice different dynamic structures and tempos. Plus, many of the chord progressions and basic melodies are perfect for improvisation, when a student reaches that level.

When considering which easy piano classics to learn, students are faced with a number of options. At stores and on Web music sites, you can find countless numbers of mixed anthologies for beginning piano, which contain pieces from famous Classical and Romantic luminaries as well as lesser-known but respectable composers from all eras of piano. For beginning pianists, it can be difficult to simply look at music and know if you like it, but a little experience — some trial and error — will make it easier to judge what you like.

Plus, if you know who your favorite composers are, there are plenty of beginning piano books devoted especially to single composers. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, in particular, composed more than enough easy piano pieces to fill several books. Also, you’re also likely to find adaptations of larger works — that is, pieces drawn from larger symphonies or operas, adapted by musicians other than the composer. These, of course, range from terrible to magnificent. As a beginning pianist, you must be prepared to buy some books that you will never use again after the first few attempts.

This is why the Web is such a great resource for beginning pianists. No longer is it necessary to buy entire, expensive books. Now, you can try out several different formats of easy piano classics before shelling out the money for paper anthologies and collections.

Plus there are wonderful DVD courses available for beginners that teach classics by the masters. For one such course, go to Classical Piano For Beginners.