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Piano sheet music for kids · Children's song · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Bingo
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 12 bars and a pickup. 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
The farmer’s dog, in 4/4, with a pickup. The piece starts with the thumb on the G below middle C: “There was a farmer had a dog” uses only G, A, C and D, so the hand sits on G, A, B, C, D for the first three bars. Then “name-o” and the spelling move the hand up to C position, E, F, D, C, in plain crotchets and minims, and for “Bingo was his name-o” in bar 11 the thumb goes back down to the low G. The left hand plays chords on beats 1 and 3, and this piece uses more of them than the others: C, F, G7, A minor and D minor.
Practice tip: Start with the thumb on the low G, not on C, and keep it there until “name-o”. Clap the spelling first: B, I, N, G, O is five claps, and in the later verses a clap takes the place of each letter you leave out.
The words
There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his nameo. BINGO, BINGO, BINGO, and Bingo was his nameo.
A short history
A farmer’s dog called Bingo has been sung about for nearly 250 years. The earliest dated version is in The Scots Nightingale, printed in Edinburgh in 1778 under the heading “Little Bingo, to its own tune”, and a London song sheet of about 1780 says it was sung by William Swords at the Haymarket Theatre. In those versions the farmer is called Franklyn and the chorus spells the dog’s name letter by letter, just as it does today.
The game of dropping a letter each time round and clapping in its place came later, when the song moved into schools and scout camps. The version printed in The Everyday Song Book (1927) still begins “Johnny had a little dog” to an older tune; the melody here is the one almost everyone sings now, with “There was a farmer had a dog”.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (British, 18th century)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 12 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Lively, crotchet = 116
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 27 of 201)
- Type
- Children's song
- 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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