Piper's SongbookHow to play O Canada on recorder
O Canada uses 11 notes on the soprano recorder: B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, high E, high G, high C♯, high F♯ and high E♭. The first line goes B D′ D′ G A B C′ D′ E′ A.
- Notes
- 11: B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, high E, high G, high C♯, high F♯, high E♭
- Level
- Cross fingerings
- Time
- 4/4, about 84 beats a minute
- Source
- Calixa Lavallée, 1880
O Canada 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.
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5
Line 6
Line 7
Letters only, for printing or copying
- B D′ D′ | G A | B C′ D′ E′ | A (rest)
- B C♯′ C♯′ | D′ E′ | F♯′ F♯′ E′ E′ | D′ A B
- C′ B A B C′ | D′ C′ B C′ D′ | E′ D′ C′ B | A A B
- C′ B A B C′ | D′ C′ B B | A D′ D′ C♯′ B C♯′ | D′ (rest)
- B D′ D′ | G (rest) | C′ E′ E′ | A (rest)
- D′ E♭′ E♭′ | E′ C′ B A | G A | B (rest)
- D′ G′ G′ | E′ C′ B A | D′ F♯ | G (rest)
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 O Canada
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
Line six has D♯, the hardest note here. From high D, keep the thumb off and the left index finger up, and add the left ring finger and the right index, middle and ring fingers. The last line jumps from high D up to high G for "O Canada", so pinch the thumb early.
Learn one line at a time. Play it slowly until every note is clean, then join it to the next line.
About the tune
Calixa Lavallée wrote the music for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations in Quebec in 1880, to French words by Adolphe-Basile Routhier. Robert Stanley Weir's English words followed in 1908, and the song became Canada's official national anthem on 1 July 1980.
Questions
Is O Canada easy on recorder?
It is an intermediate piece. It uses cross fingerings or half holes, so learn those notes on their own first.
What notes do you need for O Canada on recorder?
B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, high E, high G, high C♯, high F♯ and high E♭. Tap a note to see its fingering on its own page.
Do these fingerings work on a German recorder?
Mostly. F♯ and high F♯ are 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.
More recorder songs
Notes checked against the official sheet music from Canadian Heritage, compared with the version in a 2010 Canadian hymnal reproduced on Wikipedia; transposed to G. Last checked 6 October 2026.