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SongsRow, Row, Row Your Boat
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Traditional, published 1852. Public domain.

30 bars · written G3–C6, sounds G5–C8 · The orchestra’s glockenspiel: thirty thick steel bars, struck with hard mallets, ringing for seconds.

Tap a bar, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the bars are the ones to press — they run up the bars from the lowest note.

GlockenspielFree · printable · plays in your browser

Row, Row, Row Your Boat — Glockenspiel Letter Notes

Row, Row, Row Your Boat, written out for the glockenspiel as letter notes, phrase by phrase and set up above on the Orchestral · 2½ octaves. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the glockenspiel waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes27, 6 pitches
  • RangeC4–C5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo96 bpm · about 23 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a glockenspiel play Row, Row, Row Your Boat?

Yes — every size 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.

  • Orchestral · 2½ octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · loaded above
  • Bell kit · 32 bars✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · load it

Row, Row, Row Your Boat: glockenspiel letter notes

The large line is the note printed on the bar; the small line under it is its number in the scale. 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.

▶ Play it above

Row, Row, Row Your Boat — glockenspiel letter notes (Orchestral · 2½ octaves) · tonalics.com

The 6 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 6 and you can play the whole tune.

  • C1×7
  • D2×3
  • E3×7
  • F4×2
  • G5×5
  • C1×3

What to expect on a glockenspiel

  • It runs from C4 to C5, an octave, using 6 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 12 above.
  • 81% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, C4 to G4, at note 23.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

About the tune

An American round, in print by 1852; the tune sung today appeared in 1881 and is usually credited to Eliphalet Oram Lyte. It is written to be sung in up to four parts, each voice entering a line after the one before.

Traditional, published 1852. Public domain. More about Row, Row, Row Your Boat →

Row, Row, Row Your Boat on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, which does not have the notes.

More songs for the glockenspiel

All 36 glockenspiel songs · Christmas songs for glockenspiel · The online glockenspiel on its own

Playing it on a real glockenspiel?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The marimba tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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