How to play Yankee Doodle on recorder

Yankee Doodle 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 Yankee Doodle

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 second bar dips from A down to low D and the last line runs F♯, D, E, F♯. Keep your right-hand fingers close to the holes so they can drop quickly.

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

About the tune

British soldiers sang it in the 1750s and 1760s to mock American colonists, who then took the song over as their own during the American War of Independence. It is now the state song of Connecticut.

Questions

Is Yankee Doodle 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 Yankee Doodle on recorder?

B, A, G, high C, 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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