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SongsMary Had a Little Lamb
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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; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. 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

Mary Had a Little Lamb — Xylophone Letter Notes

Mary Had a Little Lamb, 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.

  • Notes26, 4 pitches
  • RangeC4–G4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo104 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a xylophone play Mary Had a Little Lamb?

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

Mary Had a Little Lamb: 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

Mary Had a Little Lamb — xylophone letter notes (Toy · 8 bars) · 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.

  • C1×3
  • D2×10
  • E3×11
  • G5×2

What to expect on a xylophone

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 4 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 5 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.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

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 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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