How to play All My Little Ducklings (Alle meine Entchen) on the recorder

All My Little Ducklings (Alle meine Entchen) recorder notes with letters, for beginners, with a fingering chart for each note.

"Alle meine Entchen" ("All my little ducklings"), the first song almost every child in Germany learns. It climbs straight up from low C to A and comes back down: perfect for practicing low C and F. It uses 6 notes: low C, low D, low E, F, G and A. Below are the notes with their rhythm, and the fingering for each one.

Practice All My Little Ducklings (Alle meine Entchen) with your recorder

Free, in your browser: it listens as you play, shows which finger to fix, and goes at your own pace.

The notes

Tap a note to hear it.

CDEFGGAAAAGAAAAGFFFFEEDDDDC

Longer blocks are longer notes; a line marks each bar.

Sheet music

The same song in standard notation, with each note's name under it.

The notes as letters

C D E F G G A A A A G A A A A G F F F F E E D D D D C

All for a soprano (descant) recorder, with baroque (English) fingering.

Fingerings

Fingering:

low C

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 covered

low D

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 4 5 6 covered

low E

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 4 5 covered

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 4 6 7 covered Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 4 covered

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 3 covered

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 2 covered

Tap Play to hear a note; tap a fingering card to see how to play it. Filled holes are covered. The left hand is on top (thumb behind, holes 1–3), the right hand below (holes 4–7).

Tips

Say "doo" into the recorder for each note: the tongue starts every note, so repeated notes sound separate.
Blow gently, like cooling soup. Too much air makes a squeak an octave up.
Cover the holes with the soft pads of your fingers, not the tips, so no air leaks out.
Low C needs the gentlest breath of all, and every hole sealed: if it squeaks, check your bottom fingers first.
F has two fingerings: on a baroque recorder it's forked (thumb and holes 1 to 4, 6 and 7, with hole 5 open); on a German recorder, just the thumb and holes 1 to 4.

For teachers and parents

Print this song for your students: the notes, the fingering and a QR code. Scanning it opens the song in Recorder Hero, ready to practice at home.

Scan to practice All My Little Ducklings (Alle meine Entchen) with Recorder Hero
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