Itsy Bitsy Spider

About this arrangement

The spider song, without words, in 6/8. It begins on a pickup, the G below middle C, played by the thumb, which then moves up to C and stays there: the whole tune lies in C position, C to G, with the spider climbing C, C, C, D, E and sliding down D, C, D, E. There are rests to count at the end of bars 4 and 8, dotted crotchets to hold, and in bar 12 the thumb drops to the low G again for the two pickup notes that lead into the last line. The left hand plays a bass note and a chord on each big beat, C and G7.

Practice tip: Sing the words in your head as you play; the rests are where the singer breathes. Practise the two spots where the thumb reaches down to the low G (the very first note, and bar 12) until the move back to C is automatic.

A short history

The song was first printed in 1910, in Arthur Walbridge North’s Camp and Camino in Lower California, where it is called the Spider Song and has rougher words than the nursery version; a version heard at an Indiana college in 1912 is closer to the one children sing now. The familiar “itsy bitsy” words appeared in print in 1948, in the journal Western Folklore and in Ruth Crawford Seeger’s American Folk Songs for Children.

The finger play that goes with it, thumbs and fingers climbing the spout, is as old as the song. Its tune is a near relative of older children’s songs in the same rhythm, such as the German “Spannenlanger Hansel” (1838). Because the words that are old enough to be out of copyright are not nursery words, this arrangement is printed without them.

Quick facts

Tune

Traditional (American, early 20th century)

Key

C major

Time signature

6/8

Length

16 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Gently, dotted crotchet = 60

Difficulty

Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 89 of 201)

Type

Children's song

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