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0 ¢ · L1 = 261.6 Hz

Mbira have no standard pitch — slide this until it matches the one in your hands.

SongsAuld Lang Syne
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20 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the tuning brings some of them into reach.

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Scottish traditional melody, sung to these words since 1799. Public domain.

22 keys · C3–B♭5 as notated · By far the most common tuning in Zimbabwe. Approximates Mixolydian — a major scale with a lowered seventh.

Tap a key, or drag along a manual to run through it. On a keyboard the letters on the keys are the ones to press — they run left to right across the board. The manuals are lettered on the keys — L for the upper left manual, B for the bass manual, R for the right manual — and each is numbered outward from the middle of the board, which is how mbira players and every mbira score name them.

MbiraFree · printable · plays in your browser

Auld Lang Syne — Mbira Tabs

Auld Lang Syne, written out for the mbira as the key to press for every note and set up above on the Nyamaropa. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the mbira waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes56, 7 pitches
  • RangeG4–A5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo96 bpm · about 40 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a mbira play Auld Lang Syne?

2 of the 4 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.

  • Nyamaropa✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–A5 · loaded above
  • Dambatsoko✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–A5 · load it
  • Katsanzaira✕ Cannot play itNeeds E5, which it does not have
  • Mavembe✕ Cannot play itNeeds A4, D5, E5, A5, which it does not have

Auld Lang Syne: mbira tabs

The large line is the key to press, by manual and position; the small line under it is the scale degree it sounds. 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

Auld Lang Syne — mbira tabs (Nyamaropa) · tonalics.com

The 7 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 7 and you can play the whole tune.

  • L25×3
  • L46×4
  • L61×16
  • L72×8
  • R43×13
  • R65×6
  • R76×6

What to expect on a mbira

  • It runs from G4 to A5, an octave and a whole step, using 7 different notes. That leaves 19 semitones unused below and 1 above.
  • 62% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, C5 to A5, at note 29.
  • It uses 7 keys across 2 manuals (L and R).

About the tune

Robert Burns sent the words to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788, describing them as an old song he had taken down from an old man’s singing. The melody now sung was paired with them in 1799; it is a Scottish dance tune, and it is sung at midnight on New Year’s Eve across the English-speaking world.

Scottish traditional melody, sung to these words since 1799. Public domain. The notes follow Wikipedia, “Auld Lang Syne” (engraved score), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about Auld Lang Syne →

Auld Lang Syne on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the mbira

All 34 mbira songs · Christmas songs for mbira · The online mbira on its own