TonalicsJOURNALOpen Tuner
‹ Handpan songs
SongsMary Had a Little Lamb
Play a different song (12)

24 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the scale brings some of them into reach.

Play along
  1. 5
  2. 4
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 5
  7. 5
  8. 4
  9. 4
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 7
  13. 7
  14. 5
  15. 4
  16. 3
  17. 4
  18. 5
  19. 5
  20. 5
  21. 5
  22. 4
  23. 4
  24. 5
  25. 4
  26. 3

Traditional; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. Public domain.

8 fields · D3 ding · A3–A4 · The complete D natural minor scale, nothing left out — the most common handpan scale by a wide margin.

Tap a field, or drag around the shell to roll across them. On a keyboard the letters on the fields are the ones to press — they run up the scale, so they zigzag across the shell exactly as your hands do.

HandpanFree · printable · plays in your browser

Mary Had a Little Lamb — Handpan Tabs

Mary Had a Little Lamb, written out for the handpan as the tone field to strike for every note and set up above on the D Kurd. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the handpan waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes26, 4 pitches
  • RangeC4–G4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo104 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a handpan play Mary Had a Little Lamb?

4 of the 5 here do. 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.

  • D Kurd✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · loaded above
  • D Celtic Minor✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it
  • D Hijaz✕ Cannot play itNeeds C5, which it does not have
  • E Amara✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–A4 · load it
  • E Equinox✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it

Mary Had a Little Lamb: handpan tabs

The large line is the tone field, numbered from the lowest; 0 is the ding; the small line under it is its note. 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

Mary Had a Little Lamb — handpan tabs (D Kurd) · tonalics.com

The 4 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 4 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 3C4×3
  • 4D4×10
  • 5E4×11
  • 7G4×2

What to expect on a handpan

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 4 different notes. That leaves 10 semitones unused below and 2 above.
  • 92% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor third, E4 to G4, at note 12.
  • It uses 4 tone fields of this scale’s 8: 3, 4, 5, 7.
  • 16 notes fall to the left hand and 10 to the right.

About the tune

The poem is by Sarah Josepha Hale, published in Boston in 1830; the hymn composer Lowell Mason set it to this tune the following year. In 1877 Thomas Edison recited its opening lines to test his phonograph, which makes it the first verse ever recorded and played back.

Traditional; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. Public domain. More about Mary Had a Little Lamb →

Mary Had a Little Lamb on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation.

More songs for the handpan

All 14 handpan songs · The online handpan on its own

Playing it on a real handpan?

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

🎙 Open the Handpan Tuner