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Piano sheet music for kids · Folk song · Level 4: Up to the C above
Shenandoah
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 9 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
A slow sea shanty, and the most grown-up piece here: it is about shaping long phrases rather than keeping a beat. The rhythm is free-sounding, with dotted crotchets, pairs of quavers and notes tied over the bar line, so follow the words. The hand moves: the pickup is G below middle C, “a-way” climbs to the C above in bar 2, and bar 7 climbs from C through E up to A. The left hand changes chord on almost every half bar (C, F, A minor, D minor and G7) and plays only long chords, so it is the quiet swell under the voice.
Practice tip: Sing it first, then play the right hand alone, letting the dotted notes lean forward into the quavers. Only add the left hand when the tune sings on its own.
The words
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you, away, you rolling river, Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you, away, I'm bound away, 'cross the wide Missouri.
A short history
“Shenandoah” began as a river song of the early 19th century, sung by the boatmen and fur traders who worked the Missouri; the words tell of a trader who loves the daughter of the Oneida chief Shenandoah. Sailors took it to sea, where its long, swinging lines made it a capstan shanty for hauling up the anchor, and it was known on the clipper ships by the 1830s and 1840s.
It was in print by April 1876, as “Shanadore” in an article by R. C. Adams in The New Dominion Monthly, and again in William Alden’s article on sea songs in Harper’s Magazine in 1882 and the sailors’ collections that followed.
Almost every great American choir and singer has recorded it, from Paul Robeson to Bruce Springsteen, and in 2015 Virginia adopted “Our Great Virginia”, set to the tune, as its state song. In most versions Shenandoah is the chief, not the Virginia river or valley.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (American sea shanty, 19th century)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 9 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Slowly, flowing, crotchet = 72
- Difficulty
- Level 4: Up to the C above (piece 117 of 201)
- Type
- Folk 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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