Canon in D by Pachelbel: a listening guide for kids

Pachelbel’s Canon in D is a piece for three violins and a bass line, written in Germany around 1700. A bass line of eight notes repeats 28 times. Above it, three violins play the same music, each one starting two bars after the one before. It was forgotten for more than 200 years and is now among the most played pieces at weddings. This guide shows you how it works.

Quick facts

• Composer: Johann Pachelbel
• Written: around 1700. No one knows the exact year.
• For: three violins and a bass line, played today by a cello with a harpsichord or organ
• Length: about five minutes
• Full name: Canon and Gigue in D major

What is a canon?

A canon is a piece in which every player has the same tune, and each one starts a little later than the last. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” sung as a round is a canon.

In Pachelbel’s canon, the first violin starts. Two bars later, the second violin begins to play what the first has just played. Two bars after that, the third violin does the same. They keep this up to the end. The second and third violins never play a note that the first did not play before them.

The eight bass notes

Under the violins, the cello plays eight slow notes:

D, A, B, F-sharp, G, D, G, A

Then it plays them again. It plays them 28 times in all, and it plays nothing else. Cello players like to joke about how dull their part is.

Each bass note carries a chord. This chain of chords has been borrowed by many pop songs since.

What to listen for

The start. The bass plays its eight notes alone. Learn them.

Violin 1 enters with slow notes, one for each bass note. Then violin 2 comes in with the same notes, and then violin 3.

The notes get quicker. Every two bars, the first violin moves on to a new idea. First come slow notes, then notes twice as fast, and then twice as fast again. The other two violins follow.

The middle is the busiest. All three violins run in quick notes. Because they are two bars apart, the fast part of one violin sits on top of the slower part of another.

The notes slow down again near the end, and all three violins finish together on one chord.

The gigue that gets left out

Pachelbel wrote a second piece to follow the canon. It is a gigue, a quick, skipping dance. Most recordings and weddings leave it out. It lasts about a minute and a half.

Lost and found

Pachelbel was a well-known organist in his lifetime. After his death, the canon dropped out of sight. The oldest copy that survives was made in the 1800s. The piece was first printed in 1919.

In 1968, a French chamber orchestra made a slow, rich recording of it. Radio stations played it often in the 1970s. A film used it in 1980. Since then, it has been a favorite for weddings and graduations.

Things to do together

Sing the bass. Sing the eight bass notes on “doo” along with the recording. Count how many times you get through them.

Sing a round. Sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in three groups. The second group starts when the first reaches “gently.” That is a canon.

Follow one violin. In a video, watch only the second violin. Notice that it copies the first, two bars late.

Walk the bass. Take one slow step for each bass note. After eight steps, turn around.

Build a canon. One person claps a pattern of four beats. A second person claps it back while the first person claps a new one. Keep going.

Print and play

Draw what you hear on a listening journal page. Read Pachelbel for kids for his life and his ties to the Bach family. For the era he lived in, read Baroque music for kids.

For rounds to sing at home, read what is a canon and a round? For more pieces, see classical music listening guides for kids.