How to play Au Clair de la Lune on recorder

Au Clair de la Lune recorder notes with letters

Each box is one note, with its fingering underneath: filled holes are covered, a half-filled hole is half covered or pinched. Wider boxes are longer notes. A ′ mark means the higher octave, so D′ is high D. Bar lines are drawn as thin rules.

Sheet music

Written pitch for soprano recorder, which sounds an octave higher. Press play to hear it on a recorder sound; the slow setting plays at 60% speed.

Fingerings for the notes in Au Clair de la Lune

Hole 0 is the thumb hole on the back. Holes 1 to 3 are for the left hand, 4 to 7 for the right. These are Baroque (English) fingerings.

How to practise it

Three of the four lines use only G, A and B. The third line is the new part: it drops to low E and ends on low D, so cover the right-hand holes fully and blow very gently.

Learn one line at a time. Play it slowly until every note is clean, then join it to the next line.

About the tune

A French folk song from the 1700s. In 1860 Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville recorded someone singing it on his phonautograph, years before Edison's phonograph, and that recording is now one of the oldest known of a human voice.

Questions

Is Au Clair de la Lune easy on recorder?

It is a good second or third tune. Both hands play, and the low notes need gentle air.

What notes do you need for Au Clair de la Lune on recorder?

B, A, G, F♯, low E and low D. Tap a note to see its fingering on its own page.

Do these fingerings work on a German recorder?

Mostly. F♯ is fingered differently on a German recorder; the diagrams above are Baroque, and the linked note pages show both. A recorder whose hole 4 is smaller than hole 5 is Baroque.

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