Do you want to play or learn a nice nursery rhyme on the piano with some historical background? Yankee Doodle is then the right song for you and many children also love this tune! It has a pretty catchy melody that young kids adore. In this piano lesson we will show how to play this great nursery rhyme on the piano and of course, we also learn a bit about the history of the song. For young beginners we provide you the lyrics with the piano letter notes and for the more advanced players the sheet music.
Origin of Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle is an American song with roots in the mid-18th century, originally sung by British troops to mock American colonial soldiers during the French and Indian War. The term “doodle” referred to a fool or simpleton, while “macaroni” was a satirical reference to the contemporary fashions of the time. However, American soldiers adopted and reworked the song during the Revolutionary War, transforming it into a song of patriotism and defiance. Yankee Doodle became one of the first widely recognized American folk songs and a symbol of the emerging American identity. Its enduring legacy is reflected in its continued presence in American culture and its status as the state anthem of Connecticut.
Piano Letter Notes for Yankee Doodle
When playing a song on the piano that you don’t know by heart, you would normally use sheet music. However, for young beginners, reading music can be quite a challenge. That’s why it can be a good idea to just put the notes over the lyrics. We have created such versions for many different songs, including Yankee Doodle, to make learning and teaching easier.
But before you try the song, take a look at what notes and therefore what keys we need to use. Below is a keyboard filled with the notes we need to use to play the melody of Yankee Doodle. Labeling the piano keys with the notes can be very helpful for young beginners. It helps them find the right notes right away. However, to reduce the student’s dependence on the piano key labels, you should remove them after the child can play a few songs with confidence.
And be sure to check out our article on how to read piano notes, where we explain how to easily remember and find the piano keys on the keyboard, and how they correspond to the notes on the sheet music.
Here are the keys on the keyboard that you have to use for the song Yankee Doodle:
You probably notice that we need 2 different E and F notes, one lower and one higher E and F note. And this is actually easy to indicate with simple letter notes on the lyrics and that’s why we put a ‘ symbol in order to make this distinction. So keep in mind, that E’ and F’ are referring to the higher note and E and F to the lower note.
The following chart with the lyrics and the letters enables you to learn and play the song in a pretty easy way:
Listen to the piano recording below in order to play along or to see if you got it right. You can also the reduce the speed of the recording:
Intermediate players can try to also combine right and left hand playing. You can for example integrate some piano chords while playing Yankee Doodle. This is a bit more challenging but an excellent exercise. However, young beginners should learn first a new song with hand and to play it note by note slowly.
Piano Sheet Music for Yankee Doodle
Can you read sheet music? That’s perfect, because all the information about a song is in the sheet music. Sheet music also makes it much easier to see the difference between the two E and F notes used in the song. Since Yankee Doodle is a pretty simple piano song, it’s also a good piece to start learning and practicing reading music.
Here are the music notes for Yankee Doodle:
Free PDF Printables for Yankee Doodle
You prefer learning or teaching with some worksheets that you can print out? No worries, you can download the lyrics with piano letter notes and the sheet music for free!
Interested in instruments other than the piano? You can also find a free lesson on how to play Yankee Doodle on the guitar.
