Piper's SongbookHow to play Soon May the Wellerman Come on recorder
Soon May the Wellerman Come uses 8 notes on the soprano recorder: B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, low E and high E. The first line goes B E E E E G B B B B C′ A A A C′ C′ E′ E′ B B B. The same tune is used for The Wellerman.
- Notes
- 8: B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, low E, high E
- Level
- Thumb pinch
- Time
- 4/4, about 112 beats a minute
- Source
- Traditional New Zealand whaling song; collected by Neil Colquhoun in 1966
Soon May the Wellerman Come 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
Letters only, for printing or copying
- B | E E E E G | B B B B | C′ A A A C′ C′ | E′ E′ B B B
- E E E G | B B B B | B A G G F♯ | E
- E′ E′ C′ | D′ D′ B B B | C′ A A A C′ | E′ B B
- E′ E′ D′ C′ | D′ B B B B | C′ A G F♯ | E
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 Soon May the Wellerman Come
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
The chorus opens on high E, then C, then high D, and the thumb changes for each one: pinched for high E, fully closed for C, open for high D. Practise those three notes slowly until the thumb moves without a gap in the sound.
Learn one line at a time. Play it slowly until every note is clean, then join it to the next line.
About the tune
The Wellermen were supply ships run by the Weller brothers, who set up a whaling station at Otago in New Zealand in the 1830s. Neil Colquhoun noted the song down in 1966 from a man in his 80s who had learned it from his uncle, and printed it in 1973.
Questions
Is Soon May the Wellerman Come easy on recorder?
It suits a player who already knows the notes from low D to high D. It also needs the thumb pinch for the high notes.
What notes do you need for Soon May the Wellerman Come on recorder?
B, A, G, high C, high D, F♯, low E and high E. 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.
More recorder songs
Notes checked against the settings on The Session (including the one with words) and Paul Hardy's Songs Tunebook, in E minor; where they differ, the version most of them share. Last checked 6 October 2026.