Mary Had A Little Lamb Piano Tutorial

Is Mary Had a Little Lamb hard to play?

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a simple piece to play and is often one of the first melodies a music student learns to play on an instrument. The song is made up mostly of steps and repeated notes using the first three notes of the scale, DO, RE, and MI, with one skip from MI to SO. It’s also a very popular children’s song, which means most music students have already heard it. This makes “Mary Had a Little Lamb” an ideal song for beginners to learn.

All of the notes of this song can be found in a pentascale, or the first five notes of a musical scale. Read this article to learn more about pentascales!

Are there tips for playing Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano?

To play this song successfully, pay close attention to the rhythm. The song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” begins with a dotted eighth and a sixteenth note rhythm. This opening rhythm gives the song a light, playful, dance-like lilt. Be careful not to rush the dotted eighth note! Practice clapping or chanting this rhythm before you play.

Another way to help you play this song is to sing it using Solfege, note names, and the finger numbers before you play and then again as you’re playing. Doing this will help you learn and memorize this song with ease. For a guide to these exercises, take a look at the next section:

What notes are played in Mary Had a Little Lamb?

Here are the notes of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in Solfege:

MI RE DO RE MI MI MI
RE RE RE MI SOSO
MI RE DO RE MI MI MI MI
RE RE MI RE DO

Here are the finger numbers you’ll use to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

3 2 1 2 3 3 3
2 2 2 3 5 5
3 2 1 2 3 3 3 3
2 2 3 2 1

Here are the letter names in the key signature of Mr. Hoffman’s video lesson:

G♯ F♯ E F♯ G♯ G♯ G♯
F♯ F♯ F♯ G♯ B B
G♯ F♯ E F♯ G♯ G♯ G♯ G♯
F♯ F♯ G♯ F♯ E

But once you know the Solfege and the finger numbers, you can easily transpose this song to any key! For instance, in the key of G it will be:

B A G A B B B
A A A B D D
B A G A B B B B
A A B A G

For a super challenge, write out the letter names for this song in another easy pentascale, like C or F. For a super-duper challenge, can you name the pentascale in which you would play this song on only the black keys of the piano?

What are the chords to Mary Had a Little Lamb?

While Mr. Hoffman’s video tutorial doesn’t teach the chords to this song, once you’ve learned the melody it’s fun to add chords in the left hand. 

For the first line of the song, play the I or tonic chord

For the second line of the song, play the V7 chord for the first two measures, then the I chord for the second two measures.

For the third line of the song play the I chord

For the last line of the song, play the V7 chord until the last note, and then end on the I chord.

A simple way to play these chords for beginners is to play the first and fifth note of the scale (DO and SO) for the I chord, and the fourth and fifth note of the scale (FA and SO) for the V7 chord.

In the key of E major, use the following chords:

For the first line of the song, play the E major chord

For the second line of the song, play the B7 chord for the first two measures, then the E major chord for the second two measures.

For the third line of the song play the E major chord

For the last line of the song, play the B7 chord until the last note, and then end on the E major chord.

Is Mary Had a Little Lamb homophonic?

Yes, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a homophonic song. It has one melody line that can be accompanied by chords. 

What is the symbolism of Mary Had a Little Lamb?

The poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was written by Sarah Josepha Hale, and may be based on an actual incident. It is said that when Sarah Hale was a school teacher in New England in the early 1800’s, one day a student named Mary brought her pet lamb to school. As this was very amusing and disruptive to the class, the teacher instructed that the lamb should be put outside. When the lamb loyally waited by the school for Mary to reappear at the end of the day, the teacher used this as a lesson of kindness and love for her students. So while the poem is more literal than symbolic, it portrays the theme that those we love will also love us.

Here is the full text of the poem as it was originally published in 1830:

MARY’S LAMB.

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school one day,
That was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play
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