Happy Birthday to You

A waltz with a dotted pickup and an octave leap. Everybody gets asked for this one.

Level:
3 of 6
Hands:
Right hand
Key:
C major
Notes:
25
Range:
G4 to G5
One run:
about 20 seconds at 80 bpm

The notes, in order

25 notes, one at a time.

  1. G4
  2. G4
  3. A4
  4. G4
  5. C5
  6. B4
  7. G4
  8. G4
  9. A4
  10. G4
  11. D5
  12. C5
  13. G4
  14. G4
  15. G5
  16. E5
  17. C5
  18. B4
  19. A4
  20. F5
  21. F5
  22. E5
  23. C5
  24. D5
  25. C5

How to practise it

  1. Count in three. Each line starts on beat three with a long-short pair
  2. The third line jumps a whole octave from G to G: aim finger 5 before you need it
  3. The hand shifts once, at the F near the end. Everything before it stays in G position

The scale behind it

This one is built on the C Major scale: C D E F G A B (no sharps or flats). Its right-hand fingering runs 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5, and the scale page has the full diagram if you want to hear the shape on its own first.

How to play it here

Play along on the keys with your mouse, your computer keyboard, a touch screen, or a MIDI keyboard you have plugged in. Every key can show its own name, and the metronome will hold the tempo while you work through the 25 notes.

What it trains

  • adult beginner
  • folk
  • dotted
  • jumps
  • rhythm

More adult beginner course

Piano for adult beginners, in the order the method books teach it: black keys and finger numbers, Middle C, pentascales, primary chords, then real pieces with both hands.

All piano exercises