Yankee Doodle

The melody in letters

Bar by bar, as the app’s melody version has it; the small numbers are the fingers.

1. Bar 1F₃F₃G₄A₅
2. Bar 2F₃A₅G₄C₁
3. Bar 3F₃F₃G₄A₅
4. Bar 4F₃E₂
5. Bar 5F₁F₁G₂A₃
6. Bar 6B♭₄A₃G₂F₁
7. Bar 7E₃C₁D₂E₃
8. Bar 8F₄F₄

At a glance

It reaches past the staff: see ledger lines explained.

Versions in the app

Practice notes

Yankee Doodle here is in F major: the key signature has one flat, and every B is B flat, the black key just below B. It is short, eight bars of quarter and half notes, and a good first piece for reading a key signature.

• F F G A, F A G C, F F G A, F E ("Yankee Doodle went to town, a-riding on a pony")
• F F G A, B♭ A G F ("stuck a feather in his cap")
• E C D E, F F ("and called it macaroni")

Three positions, one per phrase:

1. C E F G A, fingers 1 2 3 4 5, for the first four bars: thumb on middle C, and D is skipped.
2. F G A B♭, fingers 1 2 3 4: the thumb moves up to F for "stuck a feather in his cap".
3. C D E F, fingers 1 2 3 4, back down for the ending.

The tricky parts:

• B flat. It appears once, at the top of the second phrase. Because the flat is in the key signature, nothing is written beside the note. Look for it before you play.
• The drop from G to middle C just after "went to town": finger 4 to the thumb.

Practice plan. Learn each phrase on its own, including its hand move, then join them. Once it's steady, the version with bass adds the left hand on F and C.

In the path: Unit 10 for grown-ups, where B flat and the key of F are introduced. The version with bass is suggested there too.

Credits and licence

• Music: Traditional
• Arranged for Octotune
• Licence: Arrangement © Octotune; melody public domain