When the Saints Go Marching In

Background

"When the Saints Go Marching In" began as an African-American spiritual, a religious song about joining the saints in heaven. Its exact origins are unknown, and several related hymns with similar words were printed around the start of the twentieth century.

It became a jazz standard through New Orleans. Brass bands there accompanied funeral processions, traditionally playing slow hymns on the way to the cemetery and lively music on the way back, and "The Saints" was a favourite for the joyful return. Louis Armstrong's 1938 recording, with his orchestra, made it famous far beyond the city, and since then it has been played by trad jazz bands, school bands and football crowds all over the world.

The tune suits a beginner because it uses a tiny handful of notes, but it also teaches something important: it does not start on the first beat of the bar.

How to practise it

The piece begins with a pickup, also called an upbeat: three notes (C, E, F) that come before the first full bar. Silently count "1", then play C, E and F on beats 2, 3 and 4. The long G that follows lands on the next "1".

The same idea returns in bars 2 and 4, where each bar starts with a rest. This is the heart of the piece, so learn it as a rhythm first:

Say "rest, C, E, F, G-2-3-4" out loud and tap the rest with your hand on your knee so it does not get skipped. Most mistakes in this piece come from starting the three notes too early.

Fingering: in C position the tune falls under 1 (C), 2 (D), 3 (E), 4 (F) and 5 (G). Your hand never moves.

The left hand plays two-note chords, mostly C with G above it, with a G chord (G and D) and an F chord (F and C) for colour later on. In bar 11, the right hand holds an F for three beats while the left hand changes to the F chord; feel how the colour shifts. Bar 12 begins with two beats of rest, so the tune restarts on beat 3.

A good order of work:

1. Clap and count the pickup and bars 2 to 4 until the rests feel natural.
2. Right hand alone at 60 beats a minute; then the left-hand chord changes alone, saying their names.
3. Hands together at 60, then 80, 92 and the full 104.

Musically, this is a march. Let the long notes sing for their full length, and give a little lift to the start of each "Oh when the saints" pickup, as if the band is stepping off. If you like, play the whole tune a second time louder, as brass bands often do.

Pickups and upbeats are taught in the ties, dotted rhythms and upbeats unit.