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

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Traditional English street cry and nursery rhyme, 18th century. Public domain.

8 bars · one octave of C major · The rainbow xylophone from the toy box — eight big bars, one for each note of the scale.

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.

XylophoneFree · printable · plays in your browser

Hot Cross Buns — Xylophone Letter Notes

Hot Cross Buns, written out for the xylophone as letter notes, phrase by phrase and set up above on the Toy · 8 bars. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the xylophone waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes17, 3 pitches
  • RangeC4–E4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo100 bpm · about 10 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a xylophone play Hot Cross Buns?

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.

  • Toy · 8 bars✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E4 · loaded above
  • Concert · 3½ octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E4 · load it

Hot Cross Buns: xylophone 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

Hot Cross Buns — xylophone letter notes (Toy · 8 bars) · tonalics.com

The 3 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 3 and you can play the whole tune.

  • C1×7
  • D2×7
  • E3×3

What to expect on a xylophone

  • It runs from C4 to E4, a major third, using 3 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 8 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 94% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major third, C4 to E4, at note 4.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

About the tune

Hot Cross Buns began as a street cry: the call of London bakers selling spiced buns on Good Friday. It was in print as a rhyme by the end of the 18th century, and the tune it settled on is about as small as a tune can be — three neighbouring notes, most of it a single falling step repeated.

Traditional English street cry and nursery rhyme, 18th century. Public domain. More about Hot Cross Buns →

Hot Cross Buns on other instruments

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

More songs for the xylophone

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

Playing it on a real xylophone?

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.

🎙 Open the Marimba Tuner