- Notes25, 8 pitches
- RangeG4–G5
- Key hereC major
- Tempo108 bpm · about 16 s
- LevelEasy
Can a clarinet play Happy Birthday?
Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.
- B♭ clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · loaded above
- A clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
- E♭ clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
- Bass clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
The notes here are written pitch, which is what a clarinet player reads. On the B♭ clarinet this sounds in B♭ major.
Happy Birthday: clarinet notes
The large line is the note, and the drawing is its fingering — a filled hole or key is one that is down. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.
Happy Birthday to You — clarinet notes (B♭ clarinet) · tonalics.com
The 8 notes it uses
Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.
- GG4×8
- AA4×3
- BB4×2
- CC5×5
- DD5×2
- EE5×2
- FF5×2
- GG5×1
What to expect on a clarinet
- It runs from G4 to G5, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 15 semitones unused below and 5 above.
- 63% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, G4 to G5, at note 15.
- It crosses the break 7 times — between B♭4 and B4, where the register key comes in — which is the hard part of this tune on this instrument.
About the tune
The tune was written by the sisters Patty and Mildred Hill, a kindergarten principal and a pianist in Louisville, Kentucky, and published in 1893 as a classroom greeting called “Good Morning to All”. The birthday words attached themselves to it in the following decades.
Melody "Good Morning to All", Patty and Mildred Hill, 1893. The lyric copyright was ruled invalid in 2016 (Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell) and the song is public domain in the US. More about Happy Birthday →
Happy Birthday on other instruments
The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.
- Happy Birthday — kalimba
- Happy Birthday — piano
- Happy Birthday — mbira
- Happy Birthday — oud
- Happy Birthday — violin
- Happy Birthday — cello
- Happy Birthday — erhu
- Happy Birthday — dulcimer
- Happy Birthday — xylophone
- Happy Birthday — marimba
- Happy Birthday — glockenspiel
- Happy Birthday — steel drum
- Happy Birthday — harmonica
- Happy Birthday — trumpet
- Happy Birthday — saxophone
- Happy Birthday — flute
- Happy Birthday — recorder
- Happy Birthday — tuba
- Happy Birthday — euphonium
- Happy Birthday — trombone
- Happy Birthday — accordion
- Happy Birthday — harp
- Happy Birthday — lyre
More songs for the clarinet
- Yankee Doodle
- When the Saints Go Marching In
- Amazing Grace
- Sakura Sakura
- Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower)
- Linstead Market
- Auld Lang Syne
- Hot Cross Buns
All 36 clarinet songs · Christmas songs for clarinet · The online clarinet on its own