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Piano sheet music for kids · Nursery rhyme · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Hey Diddle Diddle
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 6/8, 8 bars. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
The cat-and-fiddle rhyme to James William Elliott’s 1870 tune, in a bouncy 6/8. The right hand starts in C position, thumb on middle C and finger 3 on E. The first two bars are patter: six quavers each, E E E E F G then D D D D C D. Bar 5 climbs F, G, A on “laughed to”, with a slur so “laughed” takes two notes. The big step is bar 7: for “dish ran af-ter the spoon” the hand drops below middle C, thumb on G, and walks up G A B to C. The left hand plays a bass note, then a chord, one on each big beat.
Practice tip: Practise the move into bar 7 on its own: finger 3 on E at the end of bar 6, then the thumb straight down to the G below middle C. The notes there are just G G G A B, one step at a time.
The words
Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon; the little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran after the spoon.
A short history
Hey Diddle Diddle was first printed around 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody, John Newbery’s London collection, and the phrase “hey diddle diddle” is older: it appears in Thomas Preston’s play Cambyses, King of Persia, printed in 1569. The Roud Folk Song Index lists the rhyme as number 19478.
The rhyme has drawn more far-fetched explanations than almost any other, from Egyptian star worship to the court of Elizabeth I. The Opies, who collected the evidence, concluded that it is simply nonsense verse, which is probably why children like it so much.
The tune is by James William Elliott, from his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs of 1870, and it was reprinted in American school songbooks such as The Everyday Song Book of 1927, the edition this arrangement follows.
Quick facts
- Tune
- James William Elliott, 1870
- Words
- Traditional (English, 18th century)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 6/8
- Length
- 8 bars
- Tempo
- Lively, dotted crotchet = 66
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 56 of 201)
- Type
- Nursery rhyme
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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