Baa Baa Black Sheep is one of the most popular nursery rhymes in the English-speaking world. The melody is also known from other popular children’s songs, which is why it’s so familiar to children. And it’s a great melody to learn on the recorder. It’s quite short and simple, which makes it perfect for beginners. In this free recorder tutorial, let’s learn a little more about the background and meaning of the song, as well as how to play it on the recorder. We will show you how to play all the necessary notes on the recorder on a finger chart and provide you with a simple lyrics version using the above notes. For the more advanced players among us, we also offer you the sheet music!
History of Baa Baa Black Sheep
The earliest known version of the song dates from 1732, and the melody we know today was published in 1744. So, this nursery rhyme is already pretty old. Unfortunately, the identity of the songwriter remains is unknown. Researchers have made numerous attempts to learn more about the history and meaning of this rhyme. One theory is that the song alludes to the slave trade in the southern United States, suggesting that the wool of black sheep could be used to make black cloth without the need for dye. However, there is no historical evidence to support this interpretation.
The nursery rhyme is set to the French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman. This melody is also used for other nursery rhymes, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet Song. Interestingly, this melody was famously arranged by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in his Twelve Variations on Ah! vous dirai-je, maman.
Baa Baa Black Sheep Finger Chart
There are a few notes to know for the melody of Baa Baa Black Sheep, but they are all basic notes. So if you are learning to play the recorder, you will learn them anyway. We are going to play the song in the key of C major. The required notes in this key are C, D, E, F, G and A. Do you already know how to play these notes without looking at the finger chart? Great, then you can move on to the next section to play the melody. If this is the case, you should practice these notes first until you can play them without looking at the finger chart!
To make it easier for you, you should practice the individual notes one by one. Once well practiced, you can move on to the next section where we play the song with these notes.
Baa Baa Black Sheep Recorder Notes
Now that you are familiar with the required notes, you can begin to play the melody. Sure, the challenge now is to change between notes correctly, but it’s a perfect exercise to improve your recorder playing. However, beginners should always start slowly. So just take the first line of the song and try to play it slowly and correctly. Once you know the first line by heart, move on to the next line until you can play the whole song. Remember that playing slowly and without rushing greatly reduces the chance of making mistakes. Only when you can play Baa Baa Black Sheep slowly and correctly can you increase the speed.
Here are the lyrics with the letter notes to play it in an easy way:
Check out the audio recording below on how Baa Baa Black Sheep should sound like played on a recorder. You can also reduce the speed of the recording to play along while practicing.
Recorder Sheet Music for Baa Baa Black Sheep
You know how to read sheet music? That’s great because all information about a song is defined properly in the sheet music. It’s the standard way among musicians to write and read music. Since Baa Baa Black Sheep is a pretty easy tune, it’s also a great opportunity to start learning how to read sheet music with this song.
Guitar Chords are illustrated in guitar chords diagram. They are a simplified illustration of the guitar neck and it tells you where to put which finger on which string. Learn more about how to read guitar chords!
Here is the recorder sheet music for Baa Baa Black Sheep:
Free Recorder Printables for Baa Baa Black Sheep
We provide for every song free printables that you can use for your recorder lessons or just for yourself while practicing at home! Feel free to download and share the lyrics with notes as well as sheet music as PDF versions!
Interested in instruments other than the recorder? You can also find a free lesson on how to play Baa Baa Black Sheep on the guitar or piano.
