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SongsLightly Row
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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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German folk song “Hänschen klein”, 19th century; the English “Lightly Row” uses the same melody. 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

Lightly Row — Xylophone Letter Notes

Lightly Row, 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.

  • Notes49, 5 pitches
  • RangeC4–G4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo120 bpm · about 32 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a xylophone play Lightly Row?

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–G4 · loaded above
  • Concert · 3½ octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it

Lightly Row: 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

Lightly Row — xylophone letter notes (Toy · 8 bars) · tonalics.com

The 5 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 5 and you can play the whole tune.

  • C1×5
  • D2×12
  • E3×15
  • F4×6
  • G5×11

What to expect on a xylophone

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 5 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 5 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 75% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, G4 to C4, at note 24.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

About the tune

Lightly Row is the English name for the German children’s song “Hänschen klein”, whose words were written by the Dresden teacher Franz Wiedemann around 1860 to a folk melody already in circulation. The tune travelled further than the words did: it is sung with different texts across Europe, Japan and the Americas.

German folk song “Hänschen klein”, 19th century; the English “Lightly Row” uses the same melody. Public domain. More about Lightly Row →

Lightly Row on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, which does not have the notes.

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.

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