Piano songs · Intermediate
Raindrop Prelude on piano
Chopin's Raindrop Prelude is a song over a steady drip: a calm melody in the right hand, and a repeated A♭ in the left that never stops. Here are the first eight bars.
this song
Raindrop Prelude sheet music
The same notes as the player above, as a piano score: D♭ major, 4/4 time. Press Play and the notes light up as they sound. Free to print or save as a PDF.
How to read the rhythms · how to read the notes
About the piece
It's the fifteenth of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, which he finished in 1839 during the winter he spent in Majorca with George Sand. The nickname isn't Chopin's: it comes from the left hand's repeated A♭ (it turns into a G♯ in the dark middle section, in C♯ minor), heard as rain falling on the old monastery at Valldemossa where they stayed.
The notes
The letters above are the tune, played by your right hand: F D♭ A♭ B♭ C; D♭ E♭ F G♭ F; F E♭ D♭ E♭ E♭ F E♭ D E♭ F G♭ F D♭ A♭; B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G♭; F F E♭ D♭ C D♭. Longer boxes are longer notes. Press Play and follow along, slow it down with the speed slider, or turn on Wait for me and play each note yourself.
How to learn it
- The drip: the left hand's A♭ repeats in steady eighth notes under everything. Keep it soft and even: it's the weather, not the tune.
- The melody starts on F and falls to D♭ and A♭, then climbs B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭. Let it sing, a little louder than the left hand.
- Five flats: D♭ major, so every B, E, A, D and G is flat.
- Pedal: change it with each new harmony, so the A♭ rings on without blurring the melody.
Learning Raindrop Prelude on a real piano? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a rhythm that runs away. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
Why is it called the Raindrop Prelude?
Because of the repeated A♭ in the left hand, which sounds like drops of rain. The nickname isn't Chopin's; it's linked to the rainy winter of 1838–39 he spent in Majorca, where he finished the Preludes.
Is the Raindrop Prelude hard?
The opening is intermediate: slow, with a simple melody over the repeated note. The middle section, in C♯ minor, is louder and thicker, and harder.
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Notes checked against the public-domain Mutopia Project edition (mutopiaproject.org). Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm, CC BY 3.0.