What is a canon and a round? An answer for kids

A round is a song that a group sings in turns. Everyone sings the same tune, and each group starts a little after the one before. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is a round. A canon is the wider word for any music in which one part copies another, note for note, after a delay. Every round is a canon.

How a round works

1. Group 1 starts the song.
2. When group 1 reaches the second line, group 2 starts from the beginning.
3. Each group sings the whole song two or three times.
4. The groups finish one after another, in the order they began.

The tune is written so that its lines fit on top of each other. Line 1 sounds good with line 2, and both sound good with line 3. That is the trick of a round.

Rounds to sing at home

Round	Parts	Good to know
“Row, Row, Row Your Boat”	2 to 4	The easiest one to start with
“Frère Jacques”	2 to 4	Each line is sung twice, which helps
“Three Blind Mice”	3	It was printed in England in 1609
“London’s Burning”	2 to 4	Short lines and a clear tune
“Hey, Ho, Nobody Home”	3	A minor tune, good for older children
“Dona Nobis Pacem”	3	Three long lines in Latin
“Shalom Chaverim”	2 to 3	A Hebrew song of farewell

How to teach a round

1. Learn the tune well first. Sing it together until no one needs help.
2. Sing it against a steady part. One person repeats the last line over and over while the others sing the whole song.
3. Try two groups. Put a strong singer in each.
4. Stand apart. Each group stands in its own corner and faces the middle.
5. Agree on the number of times. Two times through is enough at first.
6. Add a third group when two groups feel easy.

If a group gets pulled onto the other group’s line, cover one ear and keep going.

Canons to hear

Canon in D, by Pachelbel. Three violins play the same music. Each one starts two bars after the one before, over a bass line that repeats. See the guide.

“Sumer Is Icumen In.” An English round from about 1250, and one of the oldest that survives. It welcomes the summer and the cuckoo.

Tallis’s Canon. A hymn tune by Thomas Tallis from the 1560s. A second voice follows the first, four notes behind.

Symphony No. 1, third movement, by Mahler. The orchestra plays “Frère Jacques” as a round in a sad, minor key. The double bass starts.

Goldberg Variations, by Bach. Every third variation is a canon. In each one, the second voice starts on a different note.

Canon, round, and fugue

Word	What happens
Round	Each voice sings the same tune at the same pitch and goes back to the start when it reaches the end
Canon	One voice copies another, note for note. The copy may start higher or lower.
Fugue	The voices enter one by one with the same tune, and then each goes its own way

Read what is a fugue?

Clever canons

Composers have treated the canon as a puzzle.

• A canon at a new pitch. The second voice sings the tune higher or lower.
• A canon upside down. When the first voice goes up, the second goes down.
• A crab canon. The second voice plays the tune backward.
• A canon at half speed. The second voice sings the tune twice as slow.

Bach wrote canons of all these kinds.

Why rounds are good for children

A round is a child’s first try at singing in parts. Each singer has to hold a tune while hearing a different one. Choir teachers use rounds for that reason. Read children’s choirs: how they work and how to join one.

Things to do together

Two-part “Row, Row.” One adult and one child sing it as a round at the dinner table. For the rowing game that goes with it, read singing games for kids.

Clap a round. Clap the rhythm of “Frère Jacques” as a round, with no singing.

Play a round. Two children play “Frère Jacques” on recorders or on a piano, one starting two bars late. For the notes, read Frère Jacques: letter notes.

Count the entries. Play the start of Pachelbel’s Canon. Raise a finger each time a new violin joins.

Move a round. Make up four moves, one for each line of a song. Do them as a round.

Find the cuckoo. Play “Sumer Is Icumen In,” and listen for the word “cuckoo.”

Print and play

To sing rounds with a group, read choir warm-ups for kids. Use a listening journal page for the canons. For more games with songs, read music games for kids with no equipment.