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Piano sheet music for kids · Nursery rhyme · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Polly Put the Kettle On
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 2/4, 16 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
A brisk tune in 2/4 with a verse for Polly and one for Sukey. Most notes are quavers (eighth notes), with a minim for “tea” and “way”. The right hand starts with the little finger on G, but in bars 4 and 12 the tune falls to B and G below middle C, so the hand has to drop and come back, and bars 7 and 15 dip to A and B below middle C, bar 11 to A. Bar 15 has the one dotted rhythm, “gone a-” as a dotted quaver and a semiquaver. The left hand plays a chord on each beat, mostly C and G7, with a G chord under the low bars.
Practice tip: Play bars 3 and 4 on their own until the drop to the low G feels easy: D E D C with fingers 2 3 2 1, then the thumb reaches down for B and G. In verse 2, bars 10, 12, 14 and 16 are the same as in verse 1.
The words
Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea. Sukey take it off again, Sukey take it off again, Sukey take it off again, they've all gone away.
A short history
The tune is Scottish and older than the words. It was known as “Jenny’s Bawbee” in the 1770s, and a song called “Molly Put the Kettle On, or Jenny’s Baubie” was published by Joseph Dale in London in 1803; editions with “Polly” appeared in Dublin and New York at about the same time. The Roud Folk Song Index lists the rhyme as number 7899.
The modern words were first written down by Charles Dickens. In Barnaby Rudge (1841) the talking raven, Grip, keeps calling out “Polly put the kettle on, we’ll all have tea”, which shows how well known the rhyme already was.
In the 18th century Polly and Sukey were ordinary pet names for Mary and Susan. The arrangement here follows the melody as printed in Alfred Moffat’s Our Old Nursery Rhymes of 1911.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (Scottish tune, 18th century; English words, 19th century)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 2/4
- Length
- 16 bars
- Tempo
- Briskly, crotchet = 108
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 94 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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