Pianuvo

Old MacDonald Had a Farm (the cow verse)

Traditional

A farm song where every verse adds a new animal. This is the cow verse, with the "E-I-E-I-O" tune and the "moo-moo here" part. It is played in the key of G.

Play it in Pianuvo Free in your browser. Watch the notes fall, then play along on a piano, a MIDI keyboard or the screen.

About this easy piano piece

Composer
Traditional
Level
Easy · Stage 2: Both Hands
Difficulty
2.6 on Pianuvo’s scale (1 is your first notes, about 9 is Debussy)
Length
about 40 seconds, 16 bars
Hands
Both hands
Time and tempo
4/4 at about 100 BPM
Range
G2 to B4

Background

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a cumulative song: each verse brings in a new animal and its noise, and singers often repeat the earlier animals as they go, so the song grows longer every time round. The nonsense refrain "E-I-E-I-O" comes round three times in every verse.

Nobody knows who first sang it. One of the earliest printed versions, called "Old Macdougal Had a Farm", appeared in 1917 in a collection of songs sung by British soldiers during the First World War. The farmer's name and the spelling of the refrain have varied from place to place ever since, but the shape of the song has stayed the same.

How to practise it

This is the cow verse, sixteen bars in the key of G, with the tune in the right hand and two-note chords in the left.

The tune uses only five notes, D, E, G, A and B, and never needs the F sharp of G major. That gives a handy hand position with a gap in the middle: thumb on D, finger 2 on E, then skip F sharp and put fingers 3, 4 and 5 on G, A and B.

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Right hand: thumb on D and finger 2 on E, then fingers 3, 4 and 5 on G, A and B

The left hand plays open fifths with fingers 5 and 1: G with D above it, C with G above it, and D with A above it. These stand for the G, C and D chords, the three main chords of the key. Keep the hand shape fixed and move the whole hand to change chord. In bars 2, 3, 6, 7, 14 and 15 the chord changes halfway through the bar, so say the names aloud as you play: "C, G" or "G, D".

Bars 9 to 12 are the "moo-moo here, moo-moo there" section. The right hand stays on G the whole time, so the only thing to learn is the rhythm, which changes from bar to bar.

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Bars 11 and 12, "here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo", all on G

Say the words in rhythm, then clap them, then play them. Play the repeated Gs with small, light finger movements, keeping each finger in contact with its key. If your hand starts to tighten, alternate fingers 3 and 2 on the same key.

Learn it in this order:

  1. The first eight bars with the right hand only, slowly, around 60.
  2. Left hand alone, saying the chord names.
  3. Hands together for bars 1 to 4, then for the whole first half.
  4. Learn bars 9 to 12 last, then join everything and raise the speed through 80 to the full 100.

Each "E-I-E-I-O" steps down B, B, A, A and lands on G. Make it a little louder than the line before, as if the whole farmyard were joining in.

The left-hand fifths are a first taste of the chords in the intervals and first chords unit.

Quick tips

  1. Your left hand plays G, C and D chords. Say the chord names as you play. The "moo-moo" part stays on one note, G, so count it carefully.
  2. It stretches from G2 to B4, so look ahead for the moves across the keyboard. Both hands play: learn each hand on its own first, then put them together slowly. In G major every F is sharp: play F♯, the black key just above F.
  3. Written at about 100 BPM, but start near 90 BPM (90% speed) and speed up only when two clean plays in a row feel easy. Count 1-2-3-4, leaning a little on beats 1 and 3.

In the Academy

Taught in the Academy after Unit 5 (Sharps, scales and G major). The Academy teaches the reading, rhythm and technique this piece needs, step by step.

More songs to try

Arrangement. Pianuvo (original arrangement). Original arrangement of a public-domain tune (CC0); free to reuse.