Frère Jacques
Nursery · 1700s · Traditional (French round, 18th century)
Sing Frère Jacques with pitch feedback
“Frère Jacques” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 120 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 8 notes span C4 to E4 — 4 semitones — which rates Easy to sing, and a full 4-pass session runs about 0:16.
4 semitones as transcribed. The practice room transposes it to sit in your own range.
- One time through
- 0:04 at 120 bpm
- A full session
- 0:16 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a third or more
- 2
Frère Jacques lyrics, as transcribed here
- Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Traditional French round, in circulation since the 18th century.
- Attribution
- Traditional (French round, 18th century)
- Language
- French
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Tags describe what the melody asks of a voice, not what it sounds like — “round” is the reason to pick it on a given day.