Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a Round

Both hands play the same tune, the left hand two bars behind. A canon for one player.

Level:
5 of 6
Hands:
Both hands
Key:
C major
Notes:
108
Range:
C3 to C5
One run:
about 41 seconds at 80 bpm

The notes, in order

79 moments, 108 notes in total, some struck together.

  1. C4
  2. C4
  3. C4
  4. D4
  5. E4
  6. C3 + E4
  7. D4
  8. C3 + E4
  9. F4
  10. C3 + G4
  11. D3
  12. E3
  13. E3 + C5
  14. C5
  15. D3 + C5
  16. E3 + G4
  17. G4
  18. F3 + G4
  19. G3 + E4
  20. E4
  21. E4
  22. C4
  23. C4
  24. C4
  25. C4 + G4
  26. C4
  27. C4 + F4
  28. G3 + E4
  29. G3
  30. G3 + D4
  31. E3 + C4
  32. E3
  33. E3
  34. C3
  35. C3
  36. C3
  37. G3 + C4
  38. F3
  39. E3 + C4
  40. D3
  41. C3 + C4
  42. D4
  43. E4
  44. C3 + E4
  45. D4
  46. C3 + E4
  47. F4
  48. C3 + G4
  49. D3
  50. E3
  51. E3 + C5
  52. C5
  53. D3 + C5
  54. E3 + G4
  55. G4
  56. F3 + G4
  57. G3 + E4
  58. E4
  59. E4
  60. C4
  61. C4
  62. C4
  63. C4 + G4
  64. C4
  65. C4 + F4
  66. G3 + E4
  67. G3
  68. G3 + D4
  69. E3 + C4
  70. E3
  71. E3
  72. C3
  73. C3
  74. C3
  75. G3
  76. F3
  77. E3
  78. D3
  79. C3

How to practise it

  1. Learn the tune in each hand alone first. Both hands play it twice through
  2. The right hand starts. The left hand comes in an octave lower when the right reaches "gently down the stream"
  3. Once the hands overlap, the trick is to stop listening to your own hand and count instead

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 108 notes.

What it trains

  • adult beginner
  • folk
  • round
  • independence
  • hands together

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