TonalicsJOURNALOpen Tuner
‹ Recorder songs
left handright handthumb · behindT½123456½7½bellleft handright handthumb · behindT½123456½7½bell
C4sounds C5Thumb on

Baroque (English): F is a fork. On the recorder, hole 5 is bigger than hole 4.

SongsMary Had a Little Lamb
Play a different song (34)

2 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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

Traditional; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. Public domain.

27 notes · C4–D6 written · sounds C5–D7 · 27 notes · The descant: the recorder in every school bag. In C, and it sounds an octave above its written part.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note in one breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — Q is the bottom note and they climb a semitone at a time.

RecorderFree · printable · plays in your browser

Mary Had a Little Lamb — Recorder Notes

Mary Had a Little Lamb, written out for the recorder as letter notes with the fingering drawn under each one and set up above on the Soprano. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the recorder 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 recorder play Mary Had a Little Lamb?

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.

  • Soprano✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · loaded above
  • Alto✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C5–G5 · load it
  • Tenor✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it

Mary Had a Little Lamb: recorder 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.

▶ Play it above

Mary Had a Little Lamb — recorder notes (Soprano) · 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.

  • CC4×3
  • DD4×10
  • EE4×11
  • GG4×2

What to expect on a recorder

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 4 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 19 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 92% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor third, E4 to G4, at note 12.
  • Every note has the thumb hole fully closed or fully open — nothing in it needs the pinched thumb.

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 recorder

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

Playing it on a real recorder?

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

🎙 Open the Recorder Tuner