Old MacDonald Had a Farm — Free Piano Sheet Music for Kids, With a Play Button

The chords in this piece

Your left hand plays three chords in this piece. The shaded keys are the notes of each chord, and the numbers under them are the left-hand fingers (1 is the thumb). Oom-pah on C (low C, then E and G together), twice as fast in bars 11 and 12. On the E-I-E-I-O the chord changes every two beats: F, C, C, G. All the common piano chords, with diagrams →

C C

C – E – G · Left hand 5 3 1

C, E and G: the home chord. Little finger on C, middle finger on E, thumb on G.

F F (C position)

C – F – A · Left hand 5 2 1

C, F and A. The same three notes as F major, rearranged so the little finger stays on C; the thumb stretches up one key to A.

G G (C position)

B – D – G · Left hand 5 3 1

B, D and G. The same three notes as G major, rearranged so the hand barely moves: the little finger slides down one key from C to B.

About this arrangement

The farmyard song as most people know it dates from the early 1900s, though older versions go back to the 1700s. It is the longest piece here and brings together everything from the others: repeated notes, rests, a pickup note (“And”, “With a”) that comes before the bar line, and quavers in pairs. The left hand mixes long chords with the oom-pah pattern in the “moo moo” bars.

Practice tip: The rests matter: on “O!” hold the note for two beats, rest for one, then the pickup. Clap the rhythm of “here a moo, there a moo” before you play it.

The words

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on that farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O! With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!

A short history

A song about a farmer and his noisy animals has been sung in English since at least the 1700s; an early version, “In the Fields in Frost and Snow”, appeared in a London opera in 1706. The tune and words we know, with the E-I-E-I-O, were printed in 1917 in Tommy’s Tunes, a collection of songs sung by British soldiers in the First World War, as “Old Macdougal Had a Farm”.

Because every verse adds another animal and repeats all the earlier ones, it is a memory game as much as a song, and children have been adding new animals (and tractors) to it ever since.

For the piano it is a useful piece: the pickup notes, the rests and the repeated “moo moo” bars are all things a beginner needs to learn to count.

Quick facts

Tune: Traditional (American, early 20th century)
Key: C major, C position
Time signature: 4/4
Length: 16 bars
Tempo: Lively, crotchet = 112
Difficulty: Level 2: Left-hand chords (piece 16 of 201)
Type: Children's song
Hands: Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
Chords: C, F and G (diagrams above)
Copyright: Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers

What key is Old MacDonald Had a Farm in?

C major, in 4/4 time. There are no sharps or flats in the key signature.

How long is it?

C major, 4/4, 16 bars. The tempo marking is Lively, crotchet = 112.

Is Old MacDonald Had a Farm out of copyright?

Yes. The tune is traditional (American, early 20th century). Our piano arrangement is free for personal and classroom use.

What is the hardest part?

The rests matter: on “O!” hold the note for two beats, rest for one, then the pickup. Clap the rhythm of “here a moo, there a moo” before you play it.

Can I print it?

Yes. Press Print above to put this piece on its own page, or choose Save as PDF as the printer for a file. It prints on A4 paper; if yours is US Letter, choose US Letter in the box beside Print. The notes are the same size as a printed music book.

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