Canon in D – Johann Pachelbel

About this piece

Canon in D is the best-known work of Johann Pachelbel, a German organist and composer of the Baroque era. It was originally written for three violins over a repeating bass line, and after being rediscovered in the twentieth century it became one of the most popular pieces of classical music, heard at countless weddings and ceremonies.

This arrangement is rated hard and lasts 4:03 in 4/4 at 72 bpm. The hands play separate parts across a range from C2 to C6, which keeps the music in a comfortable middle area of the keyboard. The real challenge is endurance and control: the piece is built on a bass pattern that keeps returning while the music above it becomes more elaborate, so you need a steady left hand and even, relaxed fingers for more than four minutes.

Because the piece is in the public domain, it plays in full here, and the sheet music is printed further down the page. Start with the left hand in Wait mode until the repeating bass is second nature. Then learn the right hand one section at a time, setting an A–B loop around each new passage and practising it at 50–75 % speed. Turn on note names whenever the faster passages get crowded, use a count-in to lock into the beat, and join the hands only when each one is secure on its own.