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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.

SongsMo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花)
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1 more song needs notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. 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

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) — Recorder Notes

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花), written out for the recorder as letter notes with the fingering drawn under each one and set up above on the Soprano, an octave higher. 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.

  • Notes67, 8 pitches
  • RangeG4–C6
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo84 bpm · about 40 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a recorder play Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower)?

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, movedPlayed an octave higher: C major, G4–C6 · loaded above
  • Alto✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–C6 · load it
  • Tenor↕ Plays, movedPlayed an octave higher: C major, G4–C6 · load it

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower): 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

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花) — recorder notes (Soprano) · 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.

  • GG4×2
  • AA4×3
  • CC5×8
  • DD5×9
  • EE5×14
  • GG5×17
  • AA5×9
  • CC6×5

What to expect on a recorder

  • It runs from G4 to C6, an octave and a fourth, using 8 different notes. That leaves 7 semitones unused below and 2 above.
  • 62% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, C6 to G5, at note 50.
  • E5, G5, A5 and C6 need the pinched thumb, the half-covered thumb hole that gives the upper octave.

About the tune

A folk song from the Jiangsu region dating to the Qianlong era of the 18th century. It was the first Chinese melody to become widely known in Europe, printed in London in 1804 by John Barrow, and Puccini used it throughout his opera Turandot.

Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. Public domain. More about Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) →

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) 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 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.

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