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Piano sheet music for kids · Australian · Level 4: Up to the C above
Waltzing Matilda
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 16 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.
The chords in this piece
Your left hand plays four chords in this piece. The shaded keys are the notes of each chord, and the numbers under them are the left-hand fingers (1 is the thumb). A held chord on each half of the bar, sometimes changing on beat 4: all four C-position shapes. All the common piano chords, with diagrams →
C – E – G · Left hand 5 3 1
C, E and G: the home chord. Little finger on C, middle finger on E, thumb on G.
C – F – A · Left hand 5 2 1
C, F and A. The same three notes as F major, rearranged so the little finger stays on C; the thumb stretches up one key to A.
B – D – G · Left hand 5 3 1
B, D and G. The same three notes as G major, rearranged so the hand barely moves: the little finger slides down one key from C to B.
B – D – F · Left hand 5 3 2
B, D and F: G7 without its bottom G. Little finger down to B, finger 3 on D, finger 2 on F.
About this arrangement
Banjo Paterson’s swagman song in the tune Marie Cowan arranged in 1903, the one every Australian knows. The hand has to move: the tune sits in C position but drops to the G below middle C for “un-der” in bar 3 and again in bars 7 and 15, and climbs to the C above for “waltz-ing Ma-til-da” in bar 10. The words carry the rhythm, with pairs of quavers for “camp-ed by a bil-la-bong”. The left hand plays half-note chords, with a quick G to C change under “bil-la-bong”.
Practice tip: Learn the verse first (bars 1 to 8); the chorus repeats most of it. For the low G, let the thumb reach down and come straight back to C.
The words
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, under the shade of a coolibah tree, and he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, you'll come awaltzing Matilda with me. Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll come awaltzing Matilda with me, and he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, you'll come awaltzing Matilda with me.
A short history
The words are by A. B. “Banjo” Paterson, written in 1895 while he was staying at Dagworth Station near Winton in western Queensland. Christina Macpherson, the station owner’s sister, played him a tune she remembered from a race meeting, a version of the Scottish song “Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea”, and Paterson fitted words to it. It is traditionally said to have been first sung at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton; the earliest documented performance was at Oondooroo Station that September.
The tune most people sing today is a later arrangement by Marie Cowan, made in 1903 for the Billy Tea company, which used it as an advertising jingle and sold Cowan’s sheet music. That is why there are two slightly different tunes in circulation.
A “swagman” was a travelling worker who carried his bedroll, his “Matilda”; “waltzing Matilda” meant walking the roads with it. In the 1977 national poll the song came second to Advance Australia Fair as the choice for national anthem.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Marie Cowan, 1903, after a traditional tune
- Words
- A. B. “Banjo” Paterson, 1895
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 16 bars
- Tempo
- Jauntily, crotchet = 108
- Difficulty
- Level 4: Up to the C above (piece 112 of 201)
- Type
- Australian
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Chords
- C, F, G and G7 (diagrams above)
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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