Composers frequently employ minor keys when crafting heartbreaking music. Keys play a significant role in how a song sounds and changing them can completely change its atmosphere and the overall tenor of an composition.
For instance, this timeless piano piece begins in a major key but transitions into minor tones at its conclusion – an effective method for producing sad music with piano.
Nostalgia
Nostalgia is an emotion often felt through sad piano music. Nostalgia may bring back childhood and home memories or trigger longing for an earlier time that seemed better. Nostalgia may also evoke feelings of mourning for loved ones who have passed.
Key elements to creating nostalgic piano music include chord progressions and instrumental arrangement. Instruments with more intimate sounds, such as an acoustic guitar or clean electric piano, tend to work best for this genre. Strings or choirs may add emotional depth, particularly effective when performing melancholic tunes.
Composing nostalgic piano songs requires paying close attention to chord progressions, with particular attention paid to those that convey melancholy or create an emotional response in listeners. Minor-to-major transitions with descending bass lines may work particularly well; additionally, major 7 chords can help add sadness when used alongside minor triads or pentatonic scales.
Harmony is also key when creating nostalgic piano music, creating a sense of sadness and melancholy in a song with this progression. A chord progression using both minor 4s and major 5s gives an additional layer of emotion.
Original perception of nostalgia as being negative has evolved over time; today it’s widely acknowledged as both a source of comfort and an inducer for positive emotional states like joy. Reminiscent feelings can help people recall happy times from their past while reminding them to seek similar experiences in the future – for instance a song that reminds someone of an amazing vacation they took years ago could spur them on to plan another vacation!
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is an iconic example of nostalgic piano songs, and can certainly make you feel melancholic. However, the second half of the piece offers more positive emotions that might help give you reason to smile through sadness.
Grief
This type of sadness is intensely emotional and gut-wrenching. It could come from grieving the loss of someone dear, or from existential anxiety about one’s future. Piano music often serves to convey this type of profound melancholy effectively.
Yiruma’s sad piano song is a stunning and heartbreaking piece that can be played with various styles of piano. Moreover, its slow reflective tempo adds melancholy atmosphere while its main chord progression based on sad scale adds poignant notes of melancholy. Additionally, there is melodic tension present throughout and ends in an emotional build-up towards its dramatic conclusion.
Sentimental Progression can also be used to express feelings of sorrow. This simple and beautiful chord progression can be played in many different ways – including using strong left hand accompaniment. To learn how to play this progression chord progression check out our full-length courses: Sentimental Progression (Level 2, Level 3).
Add some high-pitched notes for a dramatic effect – a technique often employed in film music to elicit emotional impactful sorrowful feelings.
An additional key to playing sad piano music successfully is keeping the dynamic intensity at a lower range. This will keep emotions subtler and under better control; major scales should also be avoided when performing such pieces.
Sadness may seem like an overwhelming emotion, but it doesn’t need to be debilitating and can actually be very therapeutic. Allow yourself to experience all emotions – sadness included. Express it through music as an outlet to channel these feelings positively and productively; so when feeling down turn on some sad music and let your feelings out!
Empathy
Empathy is a positive emotion that helps us connect with people and situations. Empathy allows us to feel understood when someone else is suffering in some way or experiencing sadness, giving us insight into their pain which can provide the strength needed for finding ways to assist them. While empathy can be therapeutic in certain instances, it may also increase anxiety or lead to feelings of depression in extreme cases.
Loss can bring out powerful sadness. This kind of pain causes heartache and tears to fall, whether from mourning the passing of a loved one or simply feeling disconnected and isolated from society.
Some of the most striking pieces of music capture this kind of sadness so beautifully. Here are a few examples:
This piece from the soundtrack to Schindler’s List conveys feelings of grief, mourning and despair with its haunting piano accompaniment and its emotive melody line that uses repeated notes to build tension and emotion.
Jorge Mendez of Mexico creates another striking melancholic piece evoking grief over a close friend’s passing with slow sweeping chords that create emotional tension and use chromatic scales and modulation to convey this sense of melancholy and despair.
This song has been covered by many singers, but Elton John’s rendition is perhaps best known. A mournful tribute to Marilyn Monroe, it perfectly conveys feelings of loss and sadness through song.
Tempo is also key to creating an atmosphere of sadness; 60 BPM is often considered the appropriate starting point, since this corresponds with most people’s average heartbeat rate and gives the music a slow, steady tempo that gives a sense of forward motion that encapsulates feelings of sadness.
Are you curious to learn how to play sad piano songs? Check out our free Flowkey lessons on The Sentimental Progression for beginners who wish to expand their understanding. These are easy-to-follow and perfect for anyone wanting to start exploring this style of piano music.
Depression
Sadness may seem like something to avoid at all costs, but exploring it can actually be healthy. Depression helps us better understand what and why we feel sad – which can be immensely therapeutic and cathartic. Sad piano music provides an effective outlet to express these feelings in an emotionally healthy and productive manner.
As soon as you hear a slow and sad song, your heart rate immediately begins to increase as your body releases prolactin to help manage negative feelings. Playing one with emotional lyrics can increase prolactin release further. For optimal results when searching for slow and sad songs to listen to, select ones whose tempo matches up with your resting heart rate so you can easily focus on listening while keeping your mind calm.
Many popular slow and sad songs feature a chord progression starting with a minor triad and ending in a descending bass line, creating a piece of music which evokes sentimental and sorrowful feelings, making it perfect for those missing their significant other or longing for happier days past. Furthermore, this style of sad music is easy to learn on piano!
Melancholy ballads are another slow and emotional type of song. Generally performed with an acoustic guitar or strings accompaniment, these ballads work especially well when performed on piano. Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” serves as an ode to past relationships that will bring back feelings of nostalgia while remaining catchy enough to learn how to play sad songs on piano.
Frederic Chopin was widely revered as the master of violin music. One of his more well-known sad songs for piano is “Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2,” composed mainly for violin but featuring some piano accompaniment that will evoke feelings of despair and hopelessness.