Piper's SongbookHow to play Swan Lake on recorder
Swan Lake (the swan theme) uses 6 notes on the soprano recorder: B, G, high D, high E, high C♯ and high F♯. The first line goes F♯′ B C♯′ D′ E′ F♯′ D′ F♯′ D′ F♯′ B D′ B G D′ B E′ D′ C♯′.
- Notes
- 6: B, G, high D, high E, high C♯, high F♯
- Level
- Thumb pinch
- Time
- 4/4, about 88 beats a minute
- Source
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Op. 20, act 2, No. 10, 1876
Swan Lake 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
Letters only, for printing or copying
- F♯′ B C♯′ D′ E′ | F♯′ D′ F♯′ D′ | F♯′ B D′ B G D′ | B E′ D′ C♯′
- F♯′ B C♯′ D′ E′ | F♯′ D′ F♯′ D′ | F♯′ B D′ B G D′ | B B
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 Swan Lake
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 tune keeps returning to high F♯: pinch the thumb, cover all three left holes and put down only your right middle finger. In the second and third bars it alternates with high D, which needs the thumb right off, so practise moving the thumb between pinched and open without letting the notes break.
Learn one line at a time. Play it slowly until every note is clean, then join it to the next line.
About the tune
Tchaikovsky composed Swan Lake in 1875 and 1876, and the Bolshoi Ballet first performed it in Moscow in 1877. This oboe melody opens act 2 and comes back at the end of the ballet.
Questions
Is Swan Lake 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 Swan Lake on recorder?
B, G, high D, high E, high C♯ and high F♯. Tap a note to see its fingering on its own page.
Do these fingerings work on a German recorder?
Mostly. high 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 oboe part in a Wikimedia Commons engraving of No. 10 and the oboe line in the Jurgenson full score, in the original B minor. Last checked 6 October 2026.