How to play Go Tell Aunt Rhody on the recorder

Go Tell Aunt Rhody recorder notes with letters, easy for beginners, with a fingering chart for each note.

"Go Tell Aunt Rhody", an American folk song whose tune comes from an opera by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Le Devin du village (1752). It's the classic first song with B♭. It uses 5 notes: F, G, A, B♭ and high C. Below are the notes with their rhythm, and the fingering for each one.

Practice Go Tell Aunt Rhody with your recorder

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The notes

Tap a note to hear it.

AAGFFGGB♭AGFC'C'B♭AAGFGAF

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

A A G F F G G B♭ A G F C' C' B♭ A A G F G A F

C' is the high C. All for a soprano (descant) recorder, with baroque (English) fingering.

Fingerings

Fingering:

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

B♭

Thumb hole covered, holes 1 3 4 covered

high C

Thumb hole covered, hole 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.
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.
B♭ is a forked fingering: thumb and holes 1, 3 and 4, with hole 2 open.
For high C, lift your first finger (hole 1) and keep the thumb and hole 2 covered.

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.

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