How to play Skip to My Lou on recorder

Skip to My Lou 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 Skip to My Lou

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

In the last line, the quick B, high C, B swaps two fingers. For high C put your left middle finger down as the index finger lifts, then swap back for B. Practise the swap slowly until both fingers move at the same moment.

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

About the tune

Skip to My Lou was a partner-stealing dance in America by the 1840s, which is why one verse goes "Lost my partner, what'll I do?". The historian S. Frederick Starr has suggested it comes from the Creole song "Lolotte Pov'piti Lolotte".

Questions

Is Skip to My Lou 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 Skip to My Lou on recorder?

B, A, G, high C, high D and F♯. 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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