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Piano sheet music for kids · Children's song · Level 4: Up to the C above
Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 6/8, 8 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 ring game about the farmer’s year, in a lilting 6/8. The first four bars sit in C position, starting with the little finger on G: “Oats, peas, beans and” falls G, G, E, C, and “bar-ley grow” stretches up to A. In the second half the hand moves up for “Do you or I or a-ny-one know”, with the thumb on G so the little finger reaches the C above, then it walks back down the scale, a step at a time, to finish on middle C. The left hand plays a bass note and a chord on each big beat: C, F, G and G7.
Practice tip: Learn bars 5 to 8 as a scale walking down, C, B, A, G, F, E, D, C, a note or two at a time. Move the hand up just before bar 5, during “grow, Do”.
The words
Oats, peas, beans and barley grow, Oats, peas, beans and barley grow, Do you or I or anyone know How oats, peas, beans and barley grow?
A short history
Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow is number 1380 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is a singing game: children walk round in a ring while one stands in the middle, then mime the farmer sowing his seed, standing at ease, stamping his feet and clapping his hands, before choosing a partner. William Wells Newell printed it in Games and Songs of American Children (1883), saying it was known all over America and in several European countries; Alice Gomme recorded English versions in the 1890s.
The tune printed here follows The Everyday Song Book (Chicago, 1927). Iona and Peter Opie collected the same tune, with almost the same words, from children at East Tisted in Hampshire for their book The Singing Game, which shows how long a playground song can last unchanged.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (singing game, printed 1883)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 6/8
- Length
- 8 bars
- Tempo
- Lilting, dotted crotchet = 60
- Difficulty
- Level 4: Up to the C above (piece 127 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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