Row, Row, Row Your Boat on piano: notes and sheet music

The sheet music and letter notes for Row, Row, Row Your Boat are shown above, with a keyboard that plays the song in Listen mode or waits for each key in Practice mode. The tune uses the five white keys from middle C to G plus one higher note, the C an octave above middle C. It is in 6/8 time, and it is also a round, which several people can play at once, each starting at a different time.

About the song

Row, Row, Row Your Boat is an American nursery rhyme and round. It was first printed in 1852, with words much like today's but a very different tune. The melody sung now was published with the words in 1881 in The Franklin Square Song Collection, which names Eliphalet Oram Lyte without making clear whether he composed the tune or adapted it.

Counting in 6/8

Each bar of 6/8 has six quick counts, felt as two groups of three: "1 2 3, 4 5 6." The song opens with two long Cs, one on each group, then climbs in a long-short pattern, a note worth two counts followed by one worth one count, to a G that fills a whole bar.

The second line starts with the quickest notes in the song, one per count, in four groups of three repeated notes. Together those groups spell a C major chord falling from the high C to middle C. Then the long-short pattern returns as the melody steps down to finish on a long C.

How to play it

Put your right thumb on middle C, with fingers 2, 3, 4 and 5 on D, E, F and G. The whole first line fits under your hand, and each finger stays on its key. The high C is the only note out of reach. To play it, lift your hand and move it up so your thumb sits on G; the high C is then under finger 4, and the three Gs that follow are under your thumb. As the notes fall to E, move back into the C position, with finger 3 on E and your thumb on middle C. The steps down at the end are played by fingers 5, 4, 3 and 2, and the thumb takes the final C.

Playing it as a round

To play a round, the first player starts alone and a second player begins from the start when the first reaches the third bar. At one keyboard, the second player can use the same notes an octave higher so your hands do not collide, and on a tablet the full piano responds to several fingers at once, so two people can share one screen. Frère Jacques works the same way.

Practice tips

• Clap the first line. Clap or tap it while counting "1 2 3, 4 5 6" aloud. The long-short pairs should swing, not sound like even notes.
• Keep the quick notes even. In the second line, each group of three repeated notes should be steady; let the key rise between presses and keep your wrist relaxed.
• Rehearse the move to the high C. Practice going from G, the long note that ends the first line, to the high C with finger 4, then moving back down.

Next, try London Bridge Is Falling Down or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Printable sheet music

Here is the same arrangement on a single page, with the letter name under every note. Open the image to print it or save it; the Print sheet music button above the keyboard prints it too.