Mary Had a Little Lamb: letter notes for piano and recorder

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a second tune for many beginners. It uses four notes, and three of them are the notes of “Hot Cross Buns.” This page gives letter notes for the piano and the recorder, with an easier version that uses three notes.

Quick facts

• Notes: four on the piano and on the recorder, or three in the easy version
• Time signature: 4/4
• Length: four lines
• New skill: a skip from one note to a note two steps away

On this page, a dash after a letter means “hold this note longer.” D’ is the high D on the recorder.

On the piano

Line 1: E D C D, E E E-,

Line 2: D D D-, E G G-,

Line 3: E D C D, E E E E,

Line 4: D D E D, C-

Put the right thumb on middle C. Each finger gets one key.

Key	C	D	E	F	G
Finger	1	2	3	4	5

The tune never uses F. In line 2, the hand skips from E to G, from finger 3 to finger 5.

On the recorder

Line 1: B A G A, B B B-,

Line 2: A A A-, B D’ D’-,

Line 3: B A G A, B B B B,

Line 4: A A B A, G-

Note	Left thumb	Left-hand fingers
B	Covers the back hole	First
A	Covers the back hole	First and second
G	Covers the back hole	First, second, and third
D’ (high D)	Off the back hole	Second alone

The three-note version

A child who knows only B, A, and G can still play the tune. Change the end of line 2.

Line 2 on the recorder: A A A-, B B B-,

Line 2 on the piano: D D D-, E E E-,

Some beginner books print this version first. The high note comes later.

The rhythm

Most of the notes are quarter notes, one to a beat. The dash marks a longer note. Most of the long notes are half notes, which last two beats. The last note of the song lasts four beats. That is a whole note. Read note values explained.

Lines 1 and 3 are almost the same. Line 1 ends with a long note. Line 3 fills that space with one more short note.

How to learn it

1. Sing it. Most children know this tune before they play it.
2. Find what repeats. Lines 1 and 3 start with the same four notes.
3. Play line 1. Say the letters out loud while playing.
4. Play line 2. Practice the skip three times by itself.
5. Join the lines. Play the whole tune each day for a week.

The story of the song

Sarah Josepha Hale, an American writer, published the poem in Boston in 1830. In the 1830s, the music teacher Lowell Mason gave it a tune.

In 1877, Thomas Edison built a machine that could record sound and play it back. To test it, he spoke the first lines of this poem. They were the first words his phonograph played back.

Lowell Mason also arranged the tune of “Joy to the World.” Read Joy to the World: letter notes.

Make it harder

• Add the left hand. On the piano, play a low C at the start of lines 1 and 3. Play a low G under the three Ds in line 2.
• Play it in a new place. On the piano, start on B and use B, A, G, and high D. These are the recorder notes.
• Play it sad. On the piano, change every E to E flat, the black key just below E. The tune moves into a minor key. Read major and minor scales explained for kids.
• Change the rhythm. Play each pair of notes long and short, with a skip in it.

Things to do together

Find the twins. Ask your child which two lines start the same way.

Trade lines. One person plays lines 1 and 3. The other plays lines 2 and 4.

Guess the change. Play the tune with one wrong note. Your child names the line where it went wrong.

Print and play

Print the piano keyboard chart and the treble clef note chart. Read Hot Cross Buns on recorder, piano, and violin, first piano songs for kids, and easy recorder songs with letter notes.